2. Color

2.1 Fresh meat

Color is a physiological sensation whose interpretation can vary from one individual to another.

In meat, color is due to a muscle pigment: myoglobin (a globular protein found in sarcoplasm). A small amount of hemoglobin (residual blood) is added to this pigment. Muscle myoglobin content varies considerably from one species to another (see table 2 ).

Poultry meats have very low pigment levels, especially white muscles. Veal, depending on its diet, can also have extremely low myoglobin levels (0.01 to 0.03%).

Apart from the species, the age of the animal is very important: milk-fed calves have pale meat, grazers have pink meat and mature beef...