ULTRASTRUCTURE OF MECHANICALLY TENDERISED PORK MUSCLE

Porcine biceps femoris muscles were mechanically tenderised by the use of a meat activator. The kind and degree of damage of muscle tissue w ere then examined under an electron microscope. It was observed that s everal changes, known from the studies of the post mortem muscles, wer e much more frequent in tenderised than in intact muscles. Additional changes were found as: disruption of the contractile system or its exp ansion till the A- and I-bands disconnected. Thus we suggest that mech anical tenderisation, by destroying several linkages between muscle fi bres, between myofibrils and within myofibrils, may be responsible for lattice expansion and increase of brine uptake and overcoming the myo fibrillar and connective tissue toughness of procine meat.