Physical meat quality characteristics of hot-deboned ostrich (Struthio camelus var. domesticus) Muscularis gastrocnemius, pars interna during post-mortem aging.

There is a risk of shortening and toughening with hot-deboning of muscles. However, with refrigerated aging this phenomenon may be negated. Vacuum-packed hot and cold-deboned ostrich Muscularis gastrocnemius, pars interna were stored for 21 d at 4°C to investigate the effects of hot-deboning on quality characteristics of ostrich meat during refrigerated storage. Muscle pH did not differ (P>0.05) between hot and cold-deboned muscles during storage. Hot-deboning caused (P<0.0001) more purge in the vacuum packages of the hot-deboned muscles (1.83±1.31%) than in the cold-deboned muscles (0.67±075%) during the 21-d aging period. Hot-deboned muscles were tougher (P<0.05) than cold-deboned muscles from 24h up to 5 d. Although hot-deboning caused muscles to be tougher than cold-deboned muscles, with aging at 4°C beyond 5 d this toughness was found to be insignificant.