CONSUMERS ARE ABLE TO DETECT DIFFERENCES IN COLOR AMONG BEEF products at the retail level and make purchasing decisions based on those differences.
It has been estimated that 2% to 20%of all products are discounted, discarded, or further processed due to discoloration and off-odors (Sherbeck and others 1995).
Lipid and myoglobin oxidation are major factors of quality deterioration,affecting color, odor, flavor, texture, and nutritional value (Rhee and others 1996; Yin and Cheng 1997).
Ground meat tends to become brown and rancid more rapidly than whole muscle retail cuts (Hoand others 1996).
Both myoglobin and lipid oxidation processes are closely related (Faustman and Cassens 1989), so it may be argued that the presence of an antioxidant molecule would inhibit both discoloration and off-odor formation.