Palatability attributes of meat
The three major palatability attributes of meat are —
1) Tenderness
2) Juiciness
3) Flavor

1) Tenderness It is the most important palatability attribute. Most of the tenderness difference may be
attributed to contractile state of muscle and type /amount of connective tissue. Certain ante– mortem factors
have been identified to influence tenderness–

• The heritability estimate for tenderness is approximately .4
• Type of managemental practices like nutrition, feeding program, animal handling etc. are factors that
  affect tenderness.

There are several factors that influence tenderness and the postmortem factors are —

• The rate of chilling decides the cold shortening. Delayed chilling facilitates making more tender therefore
  meat should be held at 70 – 75 F for 3– 5 hrs prior to chilling.
• High temperature conditioning also helps and carcasses should be held at 50 – 60 F for 12 – 18 hrs
  postmortem.
• Several studies suggest that carcasses with at least .3 inches of fat insulates the muscle and prevent
  cold shortening.

Certain practices to improve tenderness

• Several approaches have been used to enhance tenderness be stretching different muscles.
• Tender stretch is one of the techniques which involves suspending the carcass via the pelvis instead of
  achilles tendon.
• Electrical stimulation process involves speeding up postmortem metabolism by causing muscle contraction.
  Electrical impulses are passed through the carcass to cause muscle contraction which results in
  accelerated postmortem glycolysis and thereby helps in tenderization.
• Blade tenderization is a process that uses small knives that disrupt the tissue. A common technique used
  for food service products.
• Proteolytic enzyme activity utilizes endogenous as well exogenous enzymes
  a) aging is process that utilizes endogenous enzymes to enhance tenderness of meat by breaking
  down some of the myofibrillar structure. It is a common technique and used almost for all meat products
  to certain extent.
  b) Tropical plant enzymes are a source of exogenous enzymes that can be used to enhance the
  tenderness of meat.The enzymes used are Papain, Bromelin and Ficin.
  

2) Juiciness

• The differences in juiciness in meat may be attributed to amount of bound/intermediate water and concentration
  of intramuscular lipids.
• The juiciness as perceived by the consumers can be separated into two components first impression and
  sustained.
• The major factors responsible for juiciness are water holding capacity and intramuscular lipid.

3) Meat flavor

• Flavor is typically associated with two components i.e. precursors and flavor volatile.
• Flavor precursors are water soluble and myofibrillar proteins. These components are associated with the
  typical meat flavor – metallic serumy etc.
• Proteins do not produce aroma however small peptides, carbohydrates and some inorganic ions do
  produce an aroma.
• The non enzymatic browning reactions between amino acids and carbohydrates are important
  components of flavor.
• Volatile compounds are typically associated with species specific flavors. fatty acid profiles are
  associated with flavor.
• Fatty acid breakdown results in short chain fatty acids and carbonyls that affect odor and flavor.
• Flavor can be said to be meaty which is attributed to meat proteins and species flavor which attributed
  to lipid composition.