Previous methods of tenderizing meat have involved raising the pH above the normal ultimate pH. The present invention provides a method of tenderizing meat by lowering the pH below the iso-electric point of the myofibrillar proteins. The method can be used to tenderize meat with high or low collagen contents and/or large or small amounts of connective tissue. The method can also be used to tenderize the meat from old animals in which the proportion of heat stable to heat labile intermolecular chemical crosslinks between the collagen molecules present in the connective tissue of the meat is high. The method can alo be used to tenderize meat which has been subjected to cold shortening.
