On Food and Cooking

for centuries that stress just before an
animal’s death — whether physical work,
hunger, duress in transport, fighting, or simple
fear — has an adverse effect on meat quality.
When an animal is killed, its muscle cells
continue to live for some time and consume
their energy supply (glycogen, an animal
version of starch). In the process they
accumulate lactic acid, which reduces enzyme
activity, slows microbial spoilage, and causes
some fluid loss, which makes the meat seem
moist. Stress depletes the muscles of their
energy supply before slaughter, so that after
slaughter they accumulate less lactic acid and
produce readily spoiled “dark, firm, dry” or
“dark-cutting” meat, a condition first
described in the 18th century. So it pays to
treat animals well. In November 1979, the
New York Times reported that a Finnish
slaughterhouse had evicted a group of young
musicians from a nearby building because
their practice sessions were resulting in dark-