In this work,we measure the Mueller matrices of the bovine skeletal muscle samples in different periods of time,and analyze their microstructural changes of hydrolyzing using the Mueller matrix transformation(MMT)technique.The experimental results show that for bovine skeletal muscle tissues,the backscattered MMT parameters can be used to distinguish the different stages of hydrolysis.The MMT parameters have different values,characteristic variation features at different stages.What is more,we also use Monte Carlo simulations based on the sphere-cylinder birefringence model(SCBM)to study the relationships between the backscattered MMT parameters and the microstructural changes of the skeletal muscle tissues during hydrolysis.Both the experimental and Monte Carlo simulated results indicate that the stages of hydrolysis for bovine skeletal muscle samples can be judged by the MMT parameters,while the microstructural variations can also be detected.The results presented in this work show that the MMT parameters have the potential to be used as tools for meat quality detection and monitoring.