Composition of Muscle Tissue

Composition is defined as the aggregate of ingredients, their arrangement, and the integrated
interrelationship that forms a unified, harmonious whole.

Muscle tissue contains approximately 75% water and 25% solids of which 19% are protein.
Lipids constitute about 2.5 to 5% of muscle.

Water
 This is the largest component of the muscle tissue.
 Due to polar behavior water molecules are attached with muscle proteins.
 About 4.5% of the total water in muscle is so tightly bound that it is almost impossible to
dislocate it.
 Most of the water exists in immobilized and free forms.
 Increases water holding capacity is associated with juiciness and tenderness of cooked
meat.

Proteins
Muscle proteins have been broadly classified into three categories:

1. Myofibrillar proteins- soluble in dilute salt solution.

2. Sarcoplasmic proteins- soluble in water or very dilute salt solution.

3. Stroma or connective protein- almost insoluble tissue proteins.

Myofibrillar Proteins

 These proteins constitute contractile part of muscle and make up about 60% of the total
protein in the skeletal muscle.
 These proteins include myosin, actin, tropomyosin, troponin and actinin.
 These proteins contribute approximately 95% of the water holding capacity, 75% of the
emulsifying capacity and to a large extent the tenderness of meat.

Sarcoplasmic proteins

 These proteins make up about 30 to 35% of the total protein in the skeletal muscles.
 They contain hundreds of enzyme for the normal functioning of muscle cells.
  In general, these proteins are very susceptible to heat.
 Myoglobin is a sarcoplasmic protein, provide red color to the muscle and serve as carrier
of oxygen to the muscle fiber.

Stroma or connective tissue proteins

 The connective tissue is composed of an amorphous ground substance or matrix which

Lipids
 Lipid is a major component of the carcass of meat animal.
 It is highly variable and is inversely proportional to the moisture content.
 Animal lipids are mainly true lipids (mostly triglycerides and some mono and di
glycerides) and phospholipids.
 The composition and distribution of meat lipids depend on the diet of meat animal.
 Phospholipids are found in muscle tissue in small percentage (0.5 to 1%).
 These are principal structural and functional constituents of cell membranes and have a
key role in the flavor and shelf stability of meat and meat production.
 Meat phospholipids are more susceptible to oxidation then triglycerides.
 Cholesterol is a minor but important component of animal tissue.

Carbohydrates
 Immediately after slaughter, muscle normally contains a very small amount (nearly 1%)
of glycogen.
 However, it gets worked up before the completion of rigor mortis and play a key role in
attaining the ultimate muscle pH.
 Both the rate and amount of glycolysis influence the color, tenderness and water holding
capacity of meat.

Minerals
 About 3.5% of the total body weight is inorganic matter.
 Most of the total body inorganic material is located in skeletal tissue primarily as salt of
calcium and phosphors and some other minerals especially magnesium.
 In living meat animal, essential minerals serve a variety of important function.
  In the conversion of muscle to meat, inorganic elements play an important role.
 Their main function relates to development of rigor mortis.
 Several inorganic ion acts as catalyst during oxidation of meat fat, enhancing the process
of rancidity development.

Vitamins
 The vitamin content of meat is variable, depending on the specie and age of the animal,
the degree of fatness and type of feed received by the animal.
 Water soluble vitamins are localized in lean tissues, whereas fat soluble vitamins in fatty
tissues.
 Most of vitamins in meat are relatively stable during processing or cooking. However,
thiamine or to some extent vitamin B6 are susceptible to heat treatment.

Nutritive value of meat tissues

Meat Proteins
 Meat is a concentrated source of proteins which are far superior to the plant proteins due
to very high biological value.
 This protein is rich in essential amino acid.
  Among proteins, myofibrillar and sarcoplasmic proteins are of high quality because they
contain enough of essential amino acids.
 Connective tissue proteins have lower levels of tryptophan and sulphur containing amino
acids.
 Collagen is especially poor in lysine content.

Meat Fats
 Meat fats contain ample amount of essential fatty acids and the nutritional demand of the
body is easily met by intramuscular fat itself.
 The most abundant fatty acid in meat fat is oleic acid ( an unsaturated FA) followed by
palmitic and stearic acids (saturated FA).
 The essential fatty acids in human diets are linoleic, linolenic and arachidonic acids.
 It may be noted that excess dietary linoleic acid is converted to archidonic acid in human
body to meet its demand.
 Meat fat also contain some quantity of cholesterol and blood cholesterol level increases
after ingestion of cholesterol in food.
 However, it is now well known that our body is capable of synthesizing more cholesterol
than is normally ingested.
 Organ meat have remarkably high cholesterol content as compared to skeletal meat.

Minerals
 In general, meat is a good source of all minerals except calcium.
 Of these minerals, quantitatively potassium is most abundant followed by phosphorus.
 Meat is good source of iron, which is required for the synthesis of hemoglobin,
myoglobin and certain enzymes and thus plays a vital role in maintaining good health.

Vitamins
 Lean meat is an excellent source of B-complex group of vitamins.
 Meat has only traces of fat soluble vitamins.
 Vitamin C is almost absent in lean meat, although certain organs contain it in minor
quantities.
 Among the B-complex, thiamin, riboflavin and niacin concentrations are quite high.

Liver is a very rich source of iron, riboflavin, niacin and vitamin A.