The effect of sample dimensions on the cleaving of meat in the objective assessment of tenderness

Abstract
Summary. An examination has been made of the effect of sample dimensions on the objective assessment of meat tenderness. By adjusting shear‐force values‐measured at right angles to the muscle‐fibre axis‐to a sample cross‐section of 1 cm2 at the proposed line of cleavage, variations in tenderness values within a sample are reduced to not more than ± 5 shear‐force units. Such variations represent approximately ± 1/2 unit in the mid‐region of a nine‐point sensory scale of tenderness. Through making such corrections to shear‐force values, it is anticipated that clearer indications of the effects of animal characteristics and carcass processing on tenderness within a single muscle will be possible.Conclusions concerning the mechanism of cleaving meat are drawn from the relationships that have been shown between sample dimensions and tenderness values.