UNRAVELING THE CHEMICAL IDENTITY OF MEAT PIGMENTS

This review examines the chemistry of nitrite curing of meat and meat products as it relates to the development of cured meat color and prov ides a detailed account of how nitrite-free processed meats could be p repared using the preformed cooked cured-meat pigment (CCMP). Thus,a c hemical description of meat color, both raw and cooked, and characteri zation of nitrosylheme pigments follows. Based on electron paramagneti c resonance (EPR), visible and infrared spectroscopic studies, evidenc e has been provided to support the hypothesis that the chemical struct ure of the preformed CCMP is identical to that of the pigment prepared in situ after thermal processing of nitrite-cured meat and is in fact a mononitrosylheme complex. An appendix, which describes the basic pr inciples of EPR spectroscopy used in the context of this review, is at tached.