Table 4.

Relationship between skeletal muscle fiber types and meat quality.

Muscle fiber types	Subdivision	Characteristic	Correlation to meat quality	References
Oxidative fibers	Type I, Type IIa	Muscles exhibit bright red color, lower shear force, smaller fiber size, higher fiber density, enhanced tenderness, increased phospholipid content, and more pronounced flavor characteristics.	Positive	(43, 49)
Glycolytic fibers	Type IIx, Type IIb	Exhibit a paler and coarse appearance; Type IIb muscle fibers have the highest glycolytic ability, causing a rapid decrease in muscle pH value, resulting in contraction of myofibrils within the muscle fibers, leading to a decrease in water content, tenderness, and meat flavor.	Negative	(5, 50)