SUMMARY:DTA (differential thermal analysis) thermograms of epimysial connective tissue from normal and low quality porcine muscle were compared at 0 and 24 hr post‐mortem. In addition, the melting characteristics of intramuscular collagen were determined at 0 hr post‐mortem. In all tissues studied, collagen from low quality muscle consistently gave slightly lower peak melting points than that from normal muscle. Epimysial collagen had a significantly (P<.05) lower peak melting point at 24 hr than at 0 hr post‐mortem (64.24 vs. 65.77°C). Using epimysial collagen, a significantly (P<.01) greater proportion of the total melting range occurred at lower temperatures at 24 hr post‐mortem as compared to 0 hr (4 1.1 vs. 30.9). The thermal behavior of intramuscular collagen at 0 hr post‐mortem was similar to that of epimysial collagen at 0 hr, but peak melting temperatures were slightly higher for intramuscular connect
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