Meat Color Measurement Guidelines

In the meat sector, the external appearance of the product is important in determining the product’s quality, consumer appeal, and the trust of the customers. Meat color is one of the most important visual indicators. It affects a customer’s perception of the product’s safeness and impact purchase decisions.

It is important to know how to measure meat color, especially for food processors,’s quality assurance teams, and retailers. We will discuss in this article the importance of meat color, types of color variation, the role of meat quality measurement technology, and standardized the measure color of meat effectively.

Why Meat Color Matters

Meat color is sometimes the only indicator of its quality from the consumer’s perspective. It is the first thing to grab attention before looking at expiration date or smelling the product. Color of meat is associated with high or low quality. Food experts should understand the color of the meat and how it varies with the species, age, and handling.

Different cuts of meat have characteristic colors:

Beef Meat Color

It should ideally be a rich cherry red, indicating oxymyoglobin presence. Brown discoloration is often due to metmyoglobin formation which is indicative of aging or a decline in oxygen levels.

Chicken Meat Color

Should be light pink to pale peach. While a slight yellowish tinge may be acceptable in poultry that has been fed on corn, grayish or greenish tints may indicate spoilage.

Trout meat color

They are often light pink to orange, which is influenced by diet, particularly the presence of carotenoids.

Rainbow trout meat color

It appears softer, often pale pink. Uniformity is best; blotchiness suggests stress or poor health.

Salmon meat color

It varies from light coral to deep orange-red. Wild salmon tend to be richer in color due to natural diet, while farmed salmon is colored with feed additives.

Hamburger meat color

It should be pink to red on the surface. The center may be gray due to lack of oxygen.

Identifying optimal meat color enhances brand reliability.

How to Accurately Measure Meat Color?

Meat color of food measurement accuracy has evolved from reliance on visual inspections to modern tools that ensure consistency using objective and repeatable methods. Inconsistencies and subjectivity is removed.

1. Visual (Subjective Technique)

Assessment of color through visual means can easily lead to color discrepancies that vary from person to person. While exmaining meat color, small scale processors use trained personnel to judge color in standard lighting, although this is antiquated on a larger scale.

2. Instrumental (Objective Technique)

Meat color measurement tools, including colorimeters and spectrophotometers, are now widely accepted in food companies. Reflective light measurement quantifies color using a numerical system of CIE Lab scale.

● L: Lightness (0 = black, 100 = white)

● a: Redness/Greenness (positive = red, negative = green)

● b: Yellowness/Blueness (positive = yellow, negative = blue)

For example, values indicative of dark red beef are L* = 38, a* = 19, b* = 10. Lighter meat can be showcased by chicken which may show values closer to L* = 60, a* = 4, b* = 8. Consistent cross batch measurement helps in determining if meat is out of the acceptable color range.

Technology for Measuring Meat Quality

Advancements in technology for measuring meat quality has changed the way businesses evaluate and ensure the quality of their meat products. Let us examine the most common technologies for measuring meat color:

Spectrophotometers

These tools are considered the gold standard in meat measurements. They offer precise measurements which assists processors in monitoring color changes over production, packaging, and storage cycles. Spectrophotometers are especially useful in comparing the color of chicken meat, beef, and salmon across different cuts and suppliers.

Colorimeters

Colorimeters are portable and economical. They are used to capture Lab* values in the field. Their rapid turnaround time makes them ideal in slaughter houses, cold storage rooms, and packaging lines.

Imaging Systems

Advanced plants utilize digital cameras to grade meat color together with other sophisticated technologies that utilize artificial intelligence. The colorimetric imaging systems take pictures with sufficient precision and detect bad meat color to enable selection at the time of grading.

Ideal Color Ranges by Meat Type

Here are the optimal color values for different types of meats, outlined in the CIE Lab color space.

Meat Type Ideal L Ideal a Ideal b Color Appearance

● Beef meat color 35-45 17-22 8-12 Bright cherry red

● Chicken meat color 55-65 3-6 6-10 Light pink to pale peach

● Trout meat color 40-60 10-15 5-10 Pink to orange red

● Rainbow trout meat color 45-55 8-12 6-9 Light pink, uniform

● Salmon meat color 30-50 14-20 10-16 Deep orange to red

● Hamburger meat color 40-55 10-18 6-10 Red outside, gray inside

In assessing meat for color, it is important to determine whether it is within acceptable values, or it may display bad meat color which indicates a quality concern.

What is Bad Meat Color?

Bad meat color is important in identifying meat rot, aging, or a fault in the processing line. It is important in preventing food poison and recall reduction to identify it in time. Colorimeters can detect various components in meat by measuring the color changes in meat, thereby effectively ensuring meat quality and safety.

Some of the common bad color symptoms are:

● Greenish beef and chicken—common with bacterial spoilage.

● Brown beef—oxidation of myoglobin.

● Grayish fish or trout—commonly caused by freezer burns, dehydration, or long storage.

● Mottled or blotchy salmon—may indicate bad feeding or handling.

In all these instances, color serves as an alert signal that something may be wrong, and draws the inspection as well as the scrutiny of the inspector. To avoid any such problems, meat color measurement devices ensure such batches are identified prior to distribution.

Best Practices for Meat Color Measurement

In order to achieve appropriate and consistent results, undertake the following measures to ensure precision and trust in reliability while performing meat color measurement:

Standardized Lighting: During visual or instrumental assessment tests, use lighting set to D65 daylight.

● Sample Uniformity: Ensure that the meat samples are uniform in thickness, moisture content, and texture prior to measurement.

● Regular Calibration: Prior to every session, instruments have to be proven to be set against certified white and black tiles as per the required standards.

● Multiple Measurements: Taking measurements across different areas of a sample, and averaging those values helps remove the impacts of extreme values.

● Record Keeping: Maintain quality tracking and comparison logs over time of the Lab* values.

● Employee Education: Make sure that staff know how to use and interpret the results of the measurement instruments. This differentiating bad meat color in acceptable and unacceptable ranges ensures correct meat classification.

Conclusion

Color is an important measurement of characterization because it can indicate freshness. The different types of meat such as beef, chicken, trout, rainbow trout, salmon and also hamburger meat require color assessment to ensure modern standards of food production and retail.

Observation alone is no longer enough. Modern meat processors have a systematic approach to measuring meat quality, especially color. Color measurement is done using colorimeters, spectrophotometers, or even imaging systems, all of which eliminate human error and ensure high standards to be maintained in food safety.

Failure to observe proper meat color measurement and lack of appropriate equipment result in low product quality, poor customer relations, and high waste emdue to spoilage. These are avoidable losses. Given how a well-presented product often sways purchase decisions, accurately evaluating meat color is essential, not just important.