74 Characterizing Pork Color Shelf Life: Foundational Visual and Biochemical Bases of Pork Discoloration

Abstract

Abstract Poor color stability limits meat shelf life, and poses an economic challenge to processors and retailers, and contributes to food waste. The US pork industry has only a limited understanding of fresh pork discoloration, with most inferences about discolored pork being extrapolated from beef discoloration studies. Despite substantial research into consumer perception, biochemical mechanisms, and economic impact of fresh beef discoloration, little is known regarding fresh pork color stability. This is problematic because of substantial differences in pork and beef myoglobin as well as discoloration traits. While discoloration in beef typically presents as a brown hue, fresh pork discoloration displays a wider range of hues, with differences in intensity and extent of discoloration. Pork-specific discoloration thresholds, as they relate to consumer acceptability, have not been defined and likely differ from beef due to the variety of discoloration hue, intensity, and extent combinations. Once discoloration in pork products has been characterized, biochemical, metabolomics, and proteomic changes between color stable and color labile products will provide information regarding a mechanistic basis for pork discoloration. Further, despite research into pre- and post-slaughter interventions to slow discoloration, it is not currently possible to predict at d 1 postmortem the inherent color persistence of pork entering the retail case 10 to 21 d later. Fundamental color stability research in pork, ranging from applied consumer perceptions to mechanistic traits, is needed to develop technologies and interventions to improve case life of color labile cuts, decrease discoloration-based profit losses, and reduce food waste.