DIFFERENCES IN THREE-DIMENSIONAL STRUCTURE REVEALED BY HIGH RESOLUTION MICRO X-RAY TOMOGRAPHY ARE RELATED TO FRESH AND COOKED MEAT TENDERNESS

High resolution 3D x-ray tomographic imaging is a powerful technology that allows for studying underlying tissuestructures. We report herein that fresh and cooked beef and poultry meat examined by three dimensional X-ray tomographyreveal textural characteristics that may be involved in determining meat tenderness. Samples of poultry breast meatcontained fiber-like structures that were less organized than those visible in images of samples taken from the leg meat.Likewise, samples from muscles collected from chuck-, ribeye- and tenderloin-derived steaks possessed fibers organizedwith increasing randomness, respectfully. These data together show that three-dimensional x-ray tomography is capable ofdiscerning the structural organization of connective tissue fibers in meat that may play a role in determining meat tendernessin both raw and cooked meat.