The quality of fresh meat exposed for retail sale is initially judged on its appearance. The presence of exudate or'drip', which accumulates in the container of prepackaged meat or in trays or dishes of unwrapped meat, substantially reduces its sales appeal (Malton and James, 1983). Drip can be referred to by a number of different names including purge loss',press loss'and 'thaw loss'depending on the method of measurement and when it is measured. In general, beef tends to lose proportionately more drip than pork or lamb. Since most of the exudate comes from the cut ends of muscle fibres
