Concept
DFD Meat
Also known as Dark Firm Dry meat, DFD, Dark cutting beef, Dark cutting
Dark, firm, dry-surfaced meat from a high final pH, a poor and riskier choice for curing because the acidity hurdle is weak.
DFD meat is the opposite fault to PSE. When an animal exhausts its muscle glycogen before slaughter, often through stress or a long journey, the pH never falls far and stays high, above about 6.0. The meat comes out dark, firm and dry to the touch, and it holds water strongly, even stickily. In beef this is the well-known dark-cutting carcass. The catch is that high pH: with little acidity to hold microbes back, DFD meat spoils faster and offers a weaker safety margin.