Article ID: 18-10_OA
In many cases, frozen whale meat in the Japanese market is prepared before rigor mortis (pre-rigor). A serious problem for frozen whale meat is the occurrence of thaw rigor, which is the strong development of rigor mortis during thawing. To prepare frozen whale meat without thaw rigor and maintain a high meat pH, the temporal changes in adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) contents of frozen meat stored at -2.5, -5.0, -7.5, and -10°C were investigated. The rate of decrease of ATP was higher than that of NAD at all storage temperatures. ATP nearly disappeared after holding the meat at -2.5°C for a few days; however, NAD existed yet, so pH decreased thereafter. ATP levels were maintained for a long period at a temperature of -5.0 to -10°C, resulting in the occurrence of thaw rigor. Compared to the muscles of fish such as tuna, the rates of decrease of ATP and NAD were extremely slow in whale meat.
