Postmortem muscle glycolysis and meat quality characteristics of intact male Korean native (Hanwoo) cattle

Five intact Korean bulls weighing about 550 kg were slaughtered to investigate postmortem glycolysis. Histochemical and meat quality characteristics of longissimus dorsi (LD) and psoas major (PM) muscles were made. Postmortem changes in ATP, glucose-6-phosphate and pH demonstrated that the rate of postmortem glycolysis in the PM was significantly faster than in the LD. The shear force to cut cooked PM was significantly lower than that of LD in 1 and 3 day aged samples, but no difference was observed between the two muscles in 7, 15 and 21 day aged samples. During the 21 days of aging, the rate of lipid oxidation, as measured by TBA value, was significantly faster in the PM than in the LD. The result suggests that PM muscle needs less aging time than LD muscle for optimum meat quality.