Brown Slime
Why Red Meat Turns Brown
Why Meat Turns from Red to Brown
Just kidding about the brown slime. But I've found my ground beef does turn brown every time I yank it out of the fridge.
"Color is the single most important factor of meat products that influences consumer buying decision and affects their perception of the freshness of the product. Everyone dealing with meat products should have a working knowledge of the color".
-Boles, Pegg.
I got home from New Seasons Market yesterday and it happened again. Curious, I decided to look into the cause.
| Everything always looks so tasty in the store. Nothing's worse than unloading your groceries to find your veggies or meat are about to spoil. I stopped going to Trader Joe's because of that. While I figured it wasn't dangerous, I've never liked how my ground beef has always turned an ugly brown after exit the grocery store parking lot. Luckily, after a little investigation I found the meat color change is a perfectly natural reaction between the proteins in animal muscle (meat) and oxygen. Boring, but at least safe! |  |
Everybody recognizes the bright-red colored steaks in the store but most people don't realize the meat starts a dark reddish-purple!
It's crazy but the meat can actually change colors (back and forth) completely dependent upon oxygen levels!
It's crazy but the meat can actually change colors (back and forth) completely dependent upon oxygen levels!
Oxygen Exposure | Why Beef Turns Brown
It wasn't difficult to find the cause for the color change. It seems tons of meat eaters on the internet were as curious as I was.
The cause for the color change is pretty simple;
When myoglobin (a protein in muscles) is exposed to oxygen (after the slaughter), it becomes oxymyoglobin – technical, I know...
This process is what leads to the bright red color that we all recognize and love. The term "red meat" is due to the oxygen exposure and this process.
It makes sense that after my ground beef is wrapped and bagged it's lost much of it's oxygen exposure. The browning of the meat is due to this oxygen reduction.
This can happen when multiple steaks are stacked on top of each other or even with ground beef as the meat gets compressed to itself.
The cause for the color change is pretty simple;
When myoglobin (a protein in muscles) is exposed to oxygen (after the slaughter), it becomes oxymyoglobin – technical, I know...
This process is what leads to the bright red color that we all recognize and love. The term "red meat" is due to the oxygen exposure and this process.
It makes sense that after my ground beef is wrapped and bagged it's lost much of it's oxygen exposure. The browning of the meat is due to this oxygen reduction.
This can happen when multiple steaks are stacked on top of each other or even with ground beef as the meat gets compressed to itself.
To Eat Or Not To Eat
While sight and color is important, this demonstrates that it’s also important to take advantage our other senses like scent. Just because your red meat has been packed tight and become brown in the fridge, don’t simply assume it's gone bad.
Sense of smell is a huge factor with along with color. If questionable, smell the meat. If it’s sour smelling at all, don't eat it.
Sense of smell is a huge factor with along with color. If questionable, smell the meat. If it’s sour smelling at all, don't eat it.
Dog Food
Have a dog? If you're struggling to determine if your meat is still fresh, consider the idea to cook it up and feed it to the dog! Dogs, like us, evolved thriving off the flesh of grass eating animals. They can benefit from the healthy fat profile too!
Sources
As stated at the beginning of this blog, I didn't know why the meat changed color! I got my information from this PDF. It’s a bit boring, but very informative!
