Tenderness of pork m. longissimus thoracis et lumborum after accelerated boning. Part II. Effect of post-slaughter ageing

This research investigated the effect of ageing time (0–10 days) at 2 °C on tenderness of pork longissimus muscle after either rigor boning (RB) or accelerated boning (removal from carcass within 30 min post slaughter) and temperature conditioning at either 0 or 14 °C. Ageing occurred most rapidly in muscles conditioned at 14 °C– maximum tenderization occurred by 4 days post-mortem. RB muscles and muscles conditioned at 0 °C aged more slowly and took 8 and 10 days, respectively, to reach a comparable level of tenderness. Temperature conditioning at 14 °C, produced muscles which had lower drip loss and lighter surface colour.