INTERACTIVE EFFECTS OF LOW VOLTAGE ELECTRICAL STIMULATION AND LEG RESTRAINT ON MEAT QUALITY OF CHAROLAIS CROSSBRED STEER CARCASSES

The meat quality of the longissimus muscle of 12 Charolais crossbred steers that were electrically stimulated on randomly selected sides approximately 1 h postmortem was investigated. Temperature and pH measurements were taken on each side at 5 min prior and 1, 4, 24 and 48 h subsequent to stimulation and analyses performed following 7-d ageing for soluble, insoluble and total collagen and muscle protein solubility. Although there were no significant differences between the treatments for pH and temperature decline and collagen and protein characteristics, the unrestrained, stimulated sides had significantly lower shear force values than restrained, stimulated sides. Key words: Collagen solubility, electrical stimulation, beef, Charolais