The Transformation of Muscle Into Meat

The first step in meat production is to raise a healthy animal. The second step is to transform the living animal into useful portions of its flesh. The ways in which this transformation occurs affect the quality of the meat, and can explain why the same cut of meat from the same store can be moist and tender one week and dry and tough the next. So it’s useful to know what goes on in the slaughterhouse and packing plant.