We’ve been trained to reach for the brightest red beef in the case. But that cherry-red color doesn't necessarily mean the package is the freshest. Sometimes, it tells you just as much about oxygen and packaging as it does about the beef itself.
Walk through the grocery store meat department and there's one color you're probably looking for.
Bright red.
Red looks fresh.
Brown looks old.
Purple looks... questionable.
At least that's what most of us have learned to believe.
But here's the interesting part:
Fresh beef isn't naturally bright cherry red all the time.
Its color changes depending on its exposure to oxygen, the chemistry of a protein called myoglobin, how long it has been stored and even the way it's packaged.
And the packaging industry knows how important that color is to us.
Let's take a look.
FRESH BEEF CAN ACTUALLY BE PURPLE
This surprises a lot of people.
According to USDA, beef that hasn't been exposed to oxygen, including beef inside a vacuum-sealed package, naturally has a burgundy or purplish-red color.
Then you open the package.
Oxygen reaches the meat.
The myoglobin in the beef reacts with that oxygen and forms oxymyoglobin, producing the bright cherry-red color we're accustomed to seeing at the grocery store.
USDA says this can happen after only about 15 minutes of exposure to air.
So that darker steak in a vacuum-sealed package?
It isn't necessarily less fresh.
It may simply have less oxygen around it.
SO WHY DO WE EXPECT BEEF TO BE BRIGHT RED?
Because color sells meat.
USDA acknowledges that attractive, bright color is an important consideration when consumers purchase meat.
And researchers have repeatedly documented the same thing: consumers commonly associate bright red beef with freshness and quality.
That creates an obvious challenge for retailers.
Beef naturally changes color.
But customers want red.
So the meat industry has developed packaging systems that can help manage how beef looks while it's being stored, transported and displayed.
ENTER MODIFIED ATMOSPHERE PACKAGING
It's called Modified Atmosphere Packaging, or MAP.
Instead of simply putting beef into a package containing ordinary air, MAP changes the atmosphere surrounding the meat before the package is sealed.
Different systems can use different combinations of gases depending on what the packaging is designed to accomplish.
And one major goal of some MAP systems used for red meat is exactly what you'd expect:
Keep the beef looking red.
High-oxygen modified atmosphere packaging can encourage formation of bright-red oxymyoglobin and improve the stability of that desirable red appearance.
Research published in Meat Science describes high-oxygen MAP as a system used in retail meat markets because oxygen favors the bright-red color consumers find appealing.
In other words, the atmosphere inside the package can be deliberately engineered partly around the way we shop.
THERE'S ANOTHER METHOD THAT'S EVEN MORE INTERESTING
Some modified-atmosphere systems can use a very small amount of carbon monoxide.
Yes.
Carbon monoxide.
FDA records show a modified-atmosphere system containing 0.4% carbon monoxide has been submitted for use with fresh ground and whole-muscle red meat. FDA responded that it had no questions regarding the notifier's conclusion that the intended use was generally recognized as safe.
An earlier FDA notice describes carbon monoxide packaging as being used with fresh cuts and ground meat to maintain wholesomeness, provide greater distribution flexibility and reduce product shrinkage.
And carbon monoxide has another unusual characteristic when it interacts with meat pigments:
It can produce a stable red color.
That's one reason this type of packaging has generated so much discussion over the years.
DOES THAT MEAN RED BEEF IS FAKE?
No.
And this distinction really matters.
We don't want you walking into the grocery store tomorrow thinking every red steak has somehow been artificially colored.
That's not how this works.
Beef naturally turns cherry red when myoglobin interacts with oxygen.
A freshly cut steak can become beautifully red all by itself.
Packaging technology can simply influence the environment around the beef and, depending on the system, help that desirable color remain stable longer.
So the issue isn't:
Red beef = manipulated beef.
The issue is:
Red beef ≠ proof of freshness.
Those are two very different statements.
CAN BEEF STILL LOOK RED WHEN IT ISN'T FRESH?
This is where the story gets particularly interesting.
A 2021 study published in Meat Science compared beef steaks stored using vacuum packaging, high-oxygen modified atmosphere packaging and carbon-monoxide modified atmosphere packaging.
Under certain conditions in that experiment, researchers found that the bright-red appearance created by high-oxygen and carbon-monoxide packaging could persist even when the beef was determined to be spoiled using other measurements.
That doesn't mean commercially packaged red beef is spoiled.
It doesn't mean these packaging systems are inherently unsafe.
And it certainly doesn't mean you should judge a package as bad simply because it uses modified-atmosphere technology.
It demonstrates something much simpler:
Your eyes don't know the whole story.
BROWN DOESN'T AUTOMATICALLY MEAN BAD EITHER
Now let's flip the argument around.
We've probably all looked at a slightly brown steak and thought:
Nope.
USDA says that's not necessarily right either.
As beef is exposed to oxygen over time, myoglobin can change into another pigment called metmyoglobin, which produces a brownish-red color.
That color change alone does not mean the beef has spoiled.
Even ground beef can look bright red on the outside while appearing grayish-brown inside simply because oxygen reaches the exterior differently than the interior.
Again:
Color alone doesn't tell the whole story.
HERE'S WHAT WE'RE QUESTIONING
Why have we become so conditioned to believe that the reddest steak must be the freshest steak?
If packaging can influence how long beef maintains a bright-red appearance, should color be the thing we're relying on most?
And when we're choosing between packages of beef, shouldn't we be asking questions beyond:
Which one looks prettier?
Where did the animal come from?
How was it raised?
When was the beef processed?
How was it packaged?
How long has it been in the supply chain?
Those questions tell you something color never can.
OUR COLOR COMES FROM THE BEEF
Our beef takes a different route.
After processing, our beef is aged for 14 days, hand-cut and vacuum sealed.
That vacuum packaging removes most of the oxygen surrounding the meat.
And remember what USDA says happens when beef isn't exposed to oxygen?
It can look darker, burgundy or purplish-red.
That's normal.
Open the package and give that steak a little time in the air, and you'll often watch the color change as oxygen reaches the meat.
That's called blooming.
Nothing needs to be added to make it happen.
It's simply beef chemistry doing what beef chemistry does.
And we'd rather explain why our beef may look different than engineer our product around what consumers have been trained to think "fresh" is supposed to look like.
THE BEEF REPORT BOTTOM LINE
Bright red beef isn't bad.
Brown beef isn't automatically spoiled.
And darker vacuum-sealed beef isn't old.
Color is chemistry.
Myoglobin changes depending on oxygen exposure, storage conditions and packaging.
Modern packaging systems can also influence that chemistry and help beef maintain the bright-red appearance shoppers associate with freshness.
So the next time you're standing in front of a grocery-store meat case, remember:
The reddest steak isn't necessarily the freshest steak.
Sometimes it's simply the steak whose packaging did the best job of keeping it red.
We think there's a better way to judge your beef.
Know where it came from.
Know how it was raised.
Know how it was processed.
Because there's a lot more to good beef than its color.