DISCOLORATION OF FRESH PORK AS RELATED TO MUSCLE AND DISPLAY CONDITIONS

Pale, soft, exudative (PSE), normal, and dark, firm, dry (DFD) pork wa s held 7 days at 4 degrees C under light or dark then color was evalua ted instrumentally and visually. Change in reflectance (R630-R580) was used to estimate color changes due to oxymyoglobin. PSE pork was ligh ter (higher L) than normal and DFD pork, but did not change over time , An increase in a and R630-R580 occurred the first day for normal an d DFD, but not for PSE samples. A subsequent increase in hue angle and decrease in R630-R580 (loss of redness) occurred in PSE and normal, b ut not in DFD samples. Changes in hue angle and R630-R580 were more ra pid in PSE than in normal samples. Light exposure accelerated all chan ges except L. Visual redness inversely correlated with L* value.