In the present
study a positive correlation between Fe–heme content and redness
was found (r = 0.727, P b 0.001) for all animals. A explanation could
be because Celtic pigs have higher concentrations of oxidative muscle
fibres than less rustic breeds such as Duroc or Landrace, thus pure
Celta pigs had higher heme pigment contents than muscles from
C × D and C × L crossbreeds (0.97 vs. 0.65 mg/100 g fresh meat;
P b 0.001, respectively).