Meat is considered an important food source in human nutrition, because it
contains important nutrients, including proteins, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins and
salts. Meat is distinguished by containing amino acids, vitamins and minerals that
are not found in adequate quantities except in meat.(1)
Animals are the only source of legally analyzed meat, whether these meat is
domesticated or wild. When the animal is slaughtered, the muscles are converted
to meat. During this period, there are significant chemical and physical changes
that occur after the slaughter process. After slaughter, the largest amount of blood
is eliminated, about 60%, which is an environment suitable for microbial growth,
and the blood is a line of defense for the body, because it contains white blood
cells. This method will stop after the slaughter and the meat is vulnerable to the
invasion and multiplication of microbes and bacteria, due to its content. A large
amount of moisture, so there must be a special and rapid treatment of meat to
protect it from contamination.(2)
RIGER MORTIS
It is a process that occurs after the process of slaughtering as a result of the
occurrence of several reactions in the body of the slaughtered animal known as
throwing molasses that results in freshness in the flesh and an increase in the
nutritional value. This process begins to develop after the slaughtering four hours
and is completed after 24 hours for cows and 10 hours for lambs and 3-4 hours for
broilers. By type of animal.(3)
The importance of riger mortis:
1- During life, the muscles of the animal are either neutralized or slightly alkaline,
then soon after the slaughter they turn into an acidic medium as a result of the
formation and accumulation of lactic acid and formic as well as potassium
phosphate, which are of great importance in the occurrence of swelling of the
connective tissue that exists between the muscles (inside the meat) where it leads
This leads to its disintegration and therefore makes the meat tenderer, and this
process is called meat ripening.
2- Throwing plays an important role in determining the quality of meat and
prolonging its storage period so that it remains fit for human consumption without
adding any preservatives, as the acid medium of stiffened meat is sufficient to
discourage sepsis from rotting and has to delay the occurrence of meat spoilage.(4)
3- Throwing stiffness is extremely important in determining the quality of meat by
measuring the meat medium pH, which converts from acidic to alkaline as the.
author
dr.zaineb hadi abbas
college of agriculture
