Red Alert Meat Colors

The histories are vanillin and menthol are, in one respect, the same old stories that keep appearing in the histoiy of humankind. There is always something that is in short supply raw material, fuel, food, luxuries etc. Human ingenuity then strives to produce them by transforming other, more readily available resources. 

Whether we like are not, colors undoubtedly affect us veiy deeply. Shades of warm red color are commonly associated with hveliness, dynamism, strength, and aggression. Itten is correct to point out that red can express all intermediate degrees between the infernal and the sublime.  

The color red is most often visible in meats, fruits, vegetables and anything produced from them and these are sold on a vast scale, tens of billions of tons annually. The most common artificial dyes in the food industry are colored red and yellow, which clearly demonstrates their importance. 

The red color of blood is caused by a substance called hemoglobin. This molecule consists of heme, which contains iron ions, and a protein called globin. In muscle tissue, a substance similar to hemoglobin is called myoglobin. It is no more than 1 % of the weight of the dry meat. Both hemoglobin and myoglobin serve as 

When raw meat is cut, a number of chemical processes are initiated. One of these is an increase in acidity, which also affects the stability of myoglobin. Below pH 5, myoglobin begins to decompose into heme and globin, and heme is readily oxidized further into hemin (Fig. 2.15). 

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