Colour brightness L*, haem pigment and iron content in the musculus longissimus dorsi at Thuringian pig origins

To the identification of the situation at the meat quality trait "meat colo ur" were the colour brightness L*, the reflection spectrum between 400 and 750 nm, the haem pigment content and the iron content at the musculus longi ssimus dorsi of 278 pigs from the Thuringian performance testing center det ermined. While at the colour brightness L* measuring 24 h post mortem 90 % of the animals corresponded to the quality requirements at intact muscles t he same samples of minced meat measuring 25 h post mortem presented a lower level of colour brightness L* predominantly. The haem pigment as well as t he iron content (n = 104) showed means average values (1,06 mg/g resp. 4,18 mg/kg) which were too low in comparison with bibliographical references. T he reflection at 525 nm was correlated with R = 0.7 to the extractive deter mined haem pigment content.