Study on meat color stability of Qinchuan cattle during post-slaughter storage

To study the stability of meat color in the post-slaughter storage process of Qinchuan cattle, three different bovine muscles, including longissimus dorsi (LD), knee round (KR) and psoas major (PM) muscles of Qinchuan cattle, were selected as research objects to determine the changes in meat color, myoglobin (Mb) relative content, pH, oxygen consumption rate (OCR), total iron, heme iron (HI) and other contents during storage. With the prolongation of the storage time, the relative content of oxymyoglobin (OxyMb) decreased, the relative content of metmyoglobin (MetMb) gradually increased, and muscle browning was due to the increase of a* value and hue value; Among them, HI and non-heme iron (NHI) reduced the stability of meat color by accelerating lipid oxidation, which was consistent with the results of Mb content and meat color index determining meat color stability. Therefore, the total iron content in muscles can also be used as an indicator of meat color stability.