Post-mortem pH values, and microscopic appearance of pig muscle.

Abstract

THE rate of fall in pH after death has been related to muscle colour and water-binding capacity3,5,8,9,12,13. Longissimus dorsi muscle with pH 4.7–5.4 within 45–60 min post mortem (pH1) produces a pale, wet muscle after rigor2,4, sometimes referred to after visual assessment and acidity measurements as ‘white watery muscle disease or dystrophy’.