Both pH45 and pH24 were lowest in muscles from pigs slaughtered immediately. The pH45 of both muscles had no differences among the three lairage groups, whereas pH24 in the 24 h lairage group was significantly higher than pigs resting for 3 h.
The temperature at 5-min postmortem decreased significantly in both LD and BF muscles of pigs rested for 3 h, showing a reduction in temperature of approximately 1.5 °C relative to the pigs slaughtered immediately. However, T24 of both muscles did not differ significantly among the four groups.