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Regardless of the age of the meat applying Ascorbic Acid, the colour changes can be inhibited or controlled.
Color change is normally due to oxygenation and oxidation which change meat pigment to bright red (oxymyoglobin) and by losing an electron in myoglobin and oxymyoglobin it forms metmyoglobin.
Prevention methods of meat color change in fresh meat:
- Control pH because it affects enzyme activity
- The length of time of storage in postmortem shall be reduced.
- The temperature shall also be controlled.
- Other way is add additives like some salts to keep the color of fresh meat but it is not recommended highly because there might be some residue or high level of it which may affect consumers.