ABSTRACT
In the next decade, the demand for poultry meat will surpass other meats as an animal protein source (OECD-FAO, 2021). Meat quality plays an important role in consumer acceptance, especially in countries where meat is retailed in chilled conditions. Consumers use visual clues to make an assessment of quality. Beef is a red meat and color deviations leads to economic losses. For example, the US beef industry loses annually $3.73 billion due to discoloration (Ramanathan et al., 2022). Although poultry is considered white meat due to lower myoglobin content, visual color impacts purchasing decisions. A recent report indicated that in 2020, the global loss due to chicken discoloration was $7.4 billion (Maia Research Analysis, 2020). Poultry meat has more unsaturated fatty acids than other species; hence oxidative changes and quality deterioration are faster (Figure 1). Various factors such as sex of the bird, age, breed, processing conditions, pH, and temperature can influence poultry meat color (Fletcher, 2002; Kuttappan et al., 2016; Hearn et al., 2021). The current chapter will discuss factors affecting poultry meat discoloration and recent advances in color development.
