Chemical and Physical Characteristics of Meat | Color and Pigment

Surface color of fresh meat is the major trait influencing consumers' purchase decisions at the point of sale, whereas internal color of cooked meat is utilized as an indicator of doneness at the point of consumption. Myoglobin is the sarcoplasmic heme protein primarily responsible for the color of meat. The chemistry of myoglobin and meat color are influenced by a multitude of endogenous and exogenous factors. The biochemistry of globin chain, redox state of heme iron, and the ligand bound to the sixth coordinate of heme iron govern the color of raw, cooked, and cured meats. The inter-influential interactions between myoglobin, mitochondria, oxidation products, metabolites, and proteome components in postmortem skeletal muscles affect color stability of meat. Furthermore, the amino acid sequence of myoglobin influences its interactions with biomolecules and biochemical attributes such as autoxidation, heme retention, thermostability, and oxygen affinity. Meat industry exploits packaging and antioxidant strategies to manipulate myoglobin chemistry and thus improve the meat color.