Contents Part 1 Refrigeration and meat quality 1 Microbiology of refrigerated meat 1.1 Factors affecting the refrigerated shelf-life of meat 1.1.1 Initial microbial levels 1.1.2 Temperature 6 1.1.3 Relative humidity 1.2 Other considerations 1.2.2 Cold deboning 1.2.3 Hot deboning 3 Conclusions 1. 4 References 2 Drip production in meat refrigeration 2.1 Biochemistry of meat 2.1.1 Structure of muscle 2.1.2 Changes after slaughter 2.1.3 Water relationships in meat 2.1. 4 Ice formation in muscle tissues 2.2 Measurement of drip 2.3 Factors affecting the amount of drip 2.3.1 Animal factors 2.3.2 Refrigeration factors 2.3.3 Chilled storageContents Part 1 Refrigeration and meat quality 1 Microbiology of refrigerated meat 3 1.1 Factors affecting the refrigerated shelf-life of meat 4 1.1.1 Initial microbial levels 4 1.1.2 Temperature 6 1.1.3 Relative humidity 11 1.2 Other considerations 12 1.2.1 Bone taint 13 1.2.2 Cold deboning 14 1.2.3 Hot deboning 15 1.3 Conclusions 16 1.4 References 16 2 Drip production in meat refrigeration 21 2.1 Biochemistry of meat 22 2.1.1 Structure of muscle 22 2.1.2 Changes after slaughter 25 2.1.3 Water relationships in meat 27 2.1.4 Ice formation in muscle tissues 29 2.2 Measurement of drip 30 2.3 Factors affecting the amount of drip 30 2.3.1 Animal factors 30 2.3.2 Refrigeration factors 33 2.3.3 Chilled storage 36