Rigor mortis is an important change affecting meat palatability. However, there seems no efficient way to continuously and automatically track the whole process of rigor mortis and subsequent resolution. This study is to explore a method to realize the traceability of the onset and development of rigor mortis of muscles using a texture analyzer. A penetration analysis was proven feasible to track the changes of muscle within 48 h postmortem. Chicken breasts were penetrated using a 50 mm probe holding until 172,800 s (48 h) immediately after bleeding. The results confirmed that ambient temperature had a significant effect on the process of rigor mortis and its subsequent resolution, that thaw rigor occurred for frozen muscles before rigor, and that struggle at slaughter accelerated the rigor process. The established approach would give us more accurate details on postmortem physicochemical changes in skeletal muscle. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.