Champaign IL. – The American Meat Science Association (AMSA) is pleased to announce that, Dr. Cameron Faustman, University of Connecticut; Dr. Andy King, U.S. Meat Animal Research Center and Dr. Brad Kim, Purdue University will be the featured speakers in the AMSA 67th Reciprocal Meat Conference (RMC) Meat Quality Symposium, on Tuesday, June 17.
Meat color is a major trait influencing consumer purchase decisions at the point-of-sale. Any deviation from the consumer-desirable cherry-red color is considered as an indicator of unwholesomeness and leads to product rejection. This session focuses of the current research and practical applications to improve fresh meat color stability.
Dr. Cameron Faustman will open this session with a presentation on “Myoglobin chemistry and modifications that influence color stability.” Myoglobin and its ability to carry/store oxygen is critical to aerobic metabolism in living muscle. This presentation will attempt to provide a background for subsequent talks by outlining the relationship between myoglobin chemistry and meat color, and summarizing the modifications that influence color stability.
The “Role of mitochondria in meat color and pre-harvest factors governing beef color” will be covered by Dr. Andy King. This presentation will discuss the sources of inherent animal variation in lean color traits. Moreover, the role of muscle metabolism, particularly mitochondrial function, in determining color stability will be examined. The role of genetics and antemortem management in reducing variation in lean color and color stability will be highlighted.
With color being a factor that consumers consider when determining meat freshness and making purchasing decisions prolonging the natural bright-red color has been a major goal of the meat industry and retail markets. Many inherent/extrinsic factors significantly influence meat color and display color life. Dr. Brad Kim’s presentation on “Practical applications to improve fresh meat color” will discuss the factors affecting meat color, current and advancing technologies, and strategic factors to improve meat color and color stability will be discussed
The AMSA 67th Reciprocal Meat Conference (RMC) will be held June 15-18, 2014, at University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI. For more information regarding the AMSA 67th RMC please visit: http://www.meatscience.org/rmc or contact Deidrea Mabry 1-800-517-AMSA ext. 12.
AMSA fosters community and professional development among individuals who create and apply science to efficiently provide safe and high quality meat (defined as red meat (beef, pork and lamb), poultry, fish/seafood and meat from other managed species).
Source: American Meat Science Association (AMSA)