The main purpose for investigating postmortem metabolism of muscle is to help explain and control things such as PSE that have a practical, commercial importance in the meat trade. Watery pork that appears unusually pale and which has a high fluid loss when cut and presented for sale has been around for a long time, with the first scientific reports dating back to the early 1900s. In the scientific literature the condition is most commonly called PSE, standing for pale, soft, and exudative pork.