Carbon monoxide-heme pigment is responsible for the pink color in irradiated raw turkey breast meat

Abstract

Turkey breast muscles were aerobically or vacuum packaged, irradiated at 0, 2.5, or 5.0 kGy using a Linear Accelerator (electron beam), and stored at 4°C. The CIE color values, reflectance scan, oxidation-reduction potential (ORP), production of gaseous compounds, and lipid oxidation of samples were determined at 0, 1, and 2 weeks of storage. Absorption spectra of sample drips were determined at 1 week of storage. Irradiation increased the a-value of both aerobically and vacuum-packaged turkey breast, but vacuum-packaged meat had stronger intensity than the aerobically packaged. The increased redness in vacuum-packaged meat was stable during the 2 weeks of storage. The production of CO in meat, which can bind to myoglobin as a sixth ligand, was proportional to irradiation dose. The ORP was decreased by irradiation, but was increased during storage. The ORP and lipid oxidation values were lower in vacuum-packaged than those in aerobically packaged turkey breast. Therefore, increased a-values in irradiated turkey breast should be caused by the decreased ORP and heme pigment-CO ligand formation. The absorption spectra of meat drip also showed that the peak wavelengths of irradiated turkey breast were similar to that of the CO-myoglobin.