4. Cooked color phenomena in beef
Consumers generally assess doneness of cooked beef using interior
color, which ranges from rare (red interiors) to well-done (brown/
gray interiors with no evidence of red) visual appearances (King &
Whyte, 2006). Extensive research over the past three decades has characterized
the etiology of various cooked color phenomena in wholemuscle
beef cuts as well as ground beef. These investigations focused
primarily on premature browning and persistent pinking (representing
the opposite ends of the spectra) in cooked meats and how processing
and production strategies influence color defects in cooked beef.