Viral Video Shows “Twitching Meat”

A video circulating online shows a fresh cut of beef which is appears to be pulsating like a beating heart. Today we look at this and other examples of “twitching meat.”

Twitching Meat

The video above was posted to the Facebook page of CCTVNews on June 28, 2015. The description states that a woman in the Shandong Province of China was surprised to see a cut of beef that she had purchased still pulsating. CCTV notes that the woman chose to film the meat rather than eat it.

Earlier Examples

The footage above is not the first time a viral video has featured twitching meat. Several years ago, video of a “dancing zombie squid” was heavily shared online. In that video, the creature appeared to come to life and “dance” after soy sauce was poured over it.

In 2009, the video below was posted in which frog legs were salted and began twitching. That video now has nearly 9 million views on YouTube.

Explanation

In the “dancing squid” video above, Discovery News asked Chemistry Professor Charles Grisham to explain the phenomenon. “Most of the tissue in an organism that is recently dead, or recently killed, is actually still alive,” he said. The professor points that that even though the brain function is missing, the living tissue will still respond to stimuli, which is salt in the examples above.

Bottom Line

A video posted online shows a cut of beef which is pulsating like a heart. The phenomenon occurs when the tissue of a very-recently killed animal is subjected to stimuli, such as salt.