How Muscle Structure and Composition Influence Meat and Flesh Quality

Figure 7

(a, b) Histological cross sections of bovine semitendinosus muscle taken at slaughter (a) and 12 days postmortem. (b) Observed by light microscopy. During storage (4°C in a cold room), cells shrink and extracellular spaces increase. (c, d) Histological longitudinal section of bovine semitendinosus muscle taken at slaughter (c) and 12 days postmortem (d) observed by transmission electron microscopy. At the ultrastructural scale, proteolytic action of enzymes causes breaking of myofibrils along the Z disks.

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