Is it bad when a piece of meat starts turning brown ?

Brown meat!? That’s right. Brown meat is okay to eat.. So what makes meat red in the first place?That red liquid you see is actually water mixing with a protein that gives meat its red color, myoglobin. Myoglobin is a protein that stores oxygen for aerobic metabolism in the muscle. All mammals contain this protein in their meat tissues and is very similar to hemoglobin which stores oxygen in our red blood cells.This protein is normally a dark grayish-purple but when it comes in contact with oxygen, it becomes oxymyoglobin and reacts by turning a deep red color.That is why most of the meat we see has a bright red color.

Both myoglobin and oxymyoglobin have the ability to lose their oxidation which results in a brown color called metmyoglobin.This essentially means that meat can turn from a bright red color (which many associate with fresh) to a brown color from a lack of oxygen. Meat can also turn brown if any sort of contamination that would cause a chemical reaction comes in contact with it.Browning of meat can also occur when oxygen partial pressure is low or basically when meat is stacked on top of one another.

Brown meat!? That’s right. Brown meat is OKAY to eat.. So what makes meat red in the first place? That red liquid you see is actually water mixing with a protein that gives meat its red color, myoglobin. Myoglobin is a protein that stores oxygen for aerobic metabolism in the muscle. All mammals contain this protein in their meat tissues and is very similar to hemoglobin which stores oxygen in our red blood cells. This protein is normally a dark grayish-purple but when it comes in contact with oxygen, it becomes oxymyoglobin and reacts by turning a deep red color. That is why most of the meat we see has a bright red color.

Both myoglobin and oxymyoglobin have the ability to lose their oxidation which results in a brown color called metmyoglobin. This essentially means that meat can turn from a bright red color (which many associate with fresh) to a brown color from a lack of oxygen. Meat can also turn brown if any sort of contamination that would cause a chemical reaction comes in contact with it.Browning of meat can also occur when oxygen partial pressure is low or basically when meat is stacked on top of one another.