When I break up a package of ground beef, I notice that it’s usually gray on the inside, even though it’s a fresh-looking red on the outside. I asked my butcher about that. He told me that the reason is the lack of air (oxygen) on the inside. I was skeptical, but the article linked below confirms his explanation. I was surprised.
I was unable to copy the relevant paragraph, which is quite a ways down.
“Consumers associate bright red color with high quality …”
I think they sometimes add a red dye to give it color too...
"Some things are apparent. Where government moves in, community retreats, civil society disintegrates and our ability to control our own destiny atrophies. The result is: families under siege; war in the streets; unapologetic expropriation of property; the precipitous decline of the rule of law; the rapid rise of corruption; the loss of civility and the triumph of deceit. The result is a debased, debauched culture which finds moral depravity entertaining and virtue contemptible." -- Justice Janice Rogers Brown
"The United States government is the largest criminal enterprise on earth." -rduckwor
Posts: 24873 | Location: St. Louis, MO | Registered: April 03, 2009
Consumers associate bright red color with high quality (Lynch et al, 1986) and are frequently concerned when ground beef appears red on the outside and brown on the inside. Different levels of oxygenation at different locations inside and on the surface of the meat can account for this coloration (the grinding process allows air to contact more surface area of the meat). If ground beef loses contact with the air, as with the inside of the package of ground beef, it will turn grayish-brown. Likewise, as ground beef is stored, even for as little as one day, it might also turn prematurely brown (USDA-ARS/FSIS, 1998).
