Meat

Bryan T. dela Cruz

Type of meat
Red meat, comes mainly from:

Cattle (beef) Pigs (pork) Sheep (lamb)

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The structure of meat
Animal flesh consists of muscle tissue or fibres, connective tissue and fatty
(adipose) tissue.
Lean meat is the muscle tissue of animals.
Muscle cells comprise of:
• water
• proteins
• minerals
• vitamins
• the red protein called myoglobin
(similar to the blood pigment haemoglobin)
• fat

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 Muscle fibres in action
Individual muscle fibres are made up of cells which contain the proteins
actin and myosin.
In live animals, actin and myosin work together to make the muscle
contract and relax.

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Muscle fibres and cooking
Connective tissue is made up of two proteins called collagen and elastin.

Collagen
The connective tissue in and around the muscle fibres and tendons is mostly
collagen. When meat is cooked, the collagen becomes soft and soluble, and
forms gelatine.

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 Muscle fibres and cooking
Elastin
This is much more elastic connective tissue.
It is yellow in colour and remains tough, even when cooked. The ligaments
which join two bones together are mostly made up of elastin.

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Muscle fibres
Muscle fibres are very small – and can only be seen under
a microscope. The length of muscle fibres varies.

Fine muscle fibres

These tend to come from the muscles of
young animals, or in older animals from the
muscles which do least work.

They contain little collagen and are tender

even when cooking times short, e.g. grilling.

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 Muscle fibres
Thick muscle fibres
These tend to be from older animals and
also muscles which do the most ‘work’ –
such as neck and shin.

They have more connective tissue to

prevent muscle damage.

This type of meat is tougher and needs

long, slow cooking with moisture to
make it tender, e.g. casserole.

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Fat – visible fat
Fat is found in meat underneath the skin (subcutaneous fat) and between
the muscles (intermuscular fat) and is a creamy-white colour.
This type of fat is called visible fat.
Visible fat (called suet) is also found around the animal’s organs, such as
the kidneys.

Visible fat

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Fat – invisible fat
A small amount of fat is also found in
connective tissue surrounding the bundles
of muscle fibres.

This is usually not obvious to the eye, so it

is known as invisible fat. Sometimes these
lines of fat can be seen and give meat a
‘marbled’ look.

Many butchers trim off most or all of the

visible fat. Farmers are now breeding
animals which have a greater proportion of
lean meat and less fat.

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The colour of meat
The colour of meat is largely due to the red protein called myoglobin and some
haemoglobin (blood) left in the muscle. Some muscles contain more of these red
pigments than others.
Colour differences can be due to age and exercise, but are mainly due to the
metabolism of the species and the function of the particular muscle.
Meat from muscles which have been used a lot and are from older animals is
usually a darker colour.

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 The colour of meat
During the time meat is stored the colour changes to a darker brown-red because
of the formation of metmyoglobin.
When meat is cut and exposed to oxygen in the air, it takes about twenty
minutes for myoglobin to change to oxymyoglobin, which is brighter red in
colour.
After some time, the meat becomes a browner colour again as metmyoglobin is
formed.
These colour changes do not make any difference to the taste or texture.

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The composition of lean meat
Lean raw meat is made up of water, proteins, fats and minerals.
The exact amounts of each of these vary in any particular cut of lean meat.
The variation could depend on:
• the species – beef, lamb or pork
• the breed of animal
• the age of the animal
• how the animal was fed
• the particular muscle from which the cut of meat was taken

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 Composition of Meats
Structure of Meat
 Meats are composed of a combination of:
 Water
 Muscle
 Connective tissue
 Adipose (fatty) tissue
 Bone
Composition of Meats
 The animal’s
age, diet, and
species affect
the color and
texture of fat.
 Composition of Meats
 Exposure of meat to oxygen changes
the color of myoglobin, and therefore
the meat.
 Cooking meat initially converts the

color of raw meat to bright red.

 Composition of Meats
 The food industry uses several methods to keep meat
products from turning brown.
 One such method is the addition of nitrites to
processed meats.
 Extractives: Flavor compounds consisting of
nonprotein, nitrogen substances that are end-products
of protein metabolism.
 Classification of Poultry
 Ready-to-eat poultry is classified according to age and
gender.
 Classifications vary from species to species:
 Chickens classified as:

 Broilers

 Fryers, etc.

 Turkeys as:

 Toms

 Hens
 Composition of Poultry
 The composition of poultry (muscle tissue,
connective tissue, etc.) is similar to meat.
Pigments
 Turkeys and chickens have both white and
dark meat.
 Classification of Fish and
Shellfish
Vertebrate Invertebrate
 Finfish  Shellfish, which includes the
 Finfish: Fish that have fins
invertebrate crustaceans and
mollusks.
and internal skeletons.  Crustacean: An invertebrate

animal with a segmented body

covered by an exoskeleton
consisting of a hard upper shell
and a soft under shell.
 Mollusk: An invertebrate animal

with a soft unsegmented body

usually enclosed in a shell.
 Classification of Fish and
Shellfish
Salt or Fresh Water Lean or Fat
 Saltwater fish often have a
 Fish are not very fatty
more distinct flavor than
freshwater fish. compared to most other
 Some saltwater fish: meats.
 Halibut, cod, and

flounder
 Some freshwater varieties:

 Catfish, perch, and pike

 Composition of Fish
Structure of Finfish
 Collagen

 Fish are only 3 percent collagen.

 Amino Acid Content

 There is less of a certain amino acid (hydroxyproline).

 Muscle Structure

 The muscles of fish are shorter (less than an inch in

length).
 This contributes to the characteristic flaking of

prepared fish.
WATER HOLDING
CAPACITY
WATER HOLDING CAPACITY
 Muscle contains 75% water. Much is lost
through drip (3-15%), evaporation (3%) and
cooking(40%)
 Gains may also occur during processing (10%)
 Water loss is important for two reasons, 1)
meat is sold by weight and 2)Water loss
contains nutrient
 Water is held in meat in layers 5% is tightly
bound 90-95% held loosely by weak forces H-
bonding
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WATER HOLDING CAPACITY
 Juiciness and tenderness of meat is affected by
amount of water
 WHC is ability of muscle/meat to retain its
own or added water. When meat takes up
added water is referred to as swelling
 Water is held by capillary forces in the space
between myofilaments. The space is called
interfilamental space and varies between 320-
570 nm.

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WATER HOLDING CAPACITY
• This IFS is affected by pH, ionic strength, pre
and post rigor factors and sarcomere length
• Most of the changes in water affects the
loosely bound or free water
• IFS increase by three times results in a 6 fold
increase in volume.
• There are constraints to unrestricted increase
in IFS.
• Any changes to net charges on the
myofilaments increases electrostatic attraction
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or repulsive forces
References
 Meat Science by Lawrie, 4 th Edition

 Principles of Meat Science by Forrest et al

 Hamm- water holding capacity in Meat edited

by Cole and Lawrie.

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