Basic characteristics of meat include color, water-holding capacity, aroma and texture. Consumers, consider color of fresh meat an important attribute and the major influencing retail purchase decisions since color is one of the most important indicators of freshness of raw meats.
Muscle pigment is myoglobin, a chromo-protein which together with other colored compounds such as hemoglobin – gives meat its normal red color.
In fact, the bright red color of fresh meat is an indicator of freshness and wholesomeness of the meat for the consumer.
Meat also has the ability to hold naturally contained or added water when exposed to some treatments such as heating, freezing or pressure.
Tenderness also important and has been described as the most important factor for high eating quality, especially in beef.
Ageing is a well-known way of increasing tenderness of meat. During ageing, proteolytic enzymes degrade the proteins and loosen up the structure of meat.
Fresh meat is vulnerable to microbiological deterioration from microorganisms. The major mechanisms, to retard fresh meat spoilage are temperature reduction, often couple with reduced oxygen during distribution, to retard normal spoilage microbial growth.
Meat freshness characteristics
