Biochemistry of post-mortem muscle tissue is complex, and several factors affect the fresh meat color and color stability, both of which influence consumer acceptance. Therefore, improving meat color and meat color stability is of significant value to the meat industry and consumers. While extensive literature is available on the color and color stability of domestic ungulates, literature on wild ungulates is notably lacking. With an increasing global demand for meats from wild ungulates, it is critical to identify the knowledge gaps regarding their color and color stability. The objective of this paper is to overview the exogenous and endogenous factors influencing the color and color stability of fresh meats from domestic and wild ungulates. The literature highlighted that the pre- and post-harvest factors influencing meat color and meat color stability are interrelated and not mutually exclusive. Current research indicates that the effects of several of these factors are specific to species, breed, and muscle source. Novel ways to manipulate these factors using a biosystems approach should be explored to improve color attributes of fresh ungulate meats.

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Storing CO treated tuna steaks in anaerobic packaging can improve the oxidative and colour stability of tuna. Such treatment can reduce spoilage and wastage thereby potentially increasing revenue.

Fallow deer (Dama dama) meat comprises a relatively small proportion of the game meat market in South Africa, despite having huge potential. To exploit its market potential, the quality attributes of fresh meat from fallow deer need to be characterized. Limited studies have been undertaken on the color stability of economically important muscles in game species. Therefore, the objective of the present study was to examine the color stability of 3 major muscles, i.e., infraspinatus (IS), longissimus thoracis et lumborum (LTL), and biceps femoris (BF), from fallow deer. The IS, LTL, and BF muscles were removed from both sides of 12 (6 male and 6 female) fallow deer carcasses. The muscles were fabricated into 2.5-cm steaks. The steaks were aerobically over-wrapped and stored at 2°C for 8 d. Meat pH, instrumental color, surface myoglobin redox forms, and metmyoglobin reducing activity were evaluated at specific intervals. Data were analyzed using mixed model repeated measures ANOVA, with gender, muscle, and time as fixed effects. The IS muscle exhibited greater (P < 0.05) pH, surface redness, color stability, oxymyoglobin content, and metmyoglobin reducing activity than the LTL and BF counterparts. In addition, surface metmyoglobin and total iron contents were lower in IS than in LTL and BF. While the IS demonstrated stable redness throughout the storage, the LTL and BF remained color stable only for 1 to 2 d. These findings suggested that fallow deer IS muscle is more color stable than the LTL and BF during refrigerated storage.

Springbok (Antidorcas marsupialis), a popular South African game species, has significant potential in meat production. Considering the importance of fresh meat color on consumers’ purchasing intent, the objective of this study was to evaluate the color stability of 3 economically important springbok muscles, infraspinatus (IS), longissimus thoracis et lumborum (LTL), and biceps femoris (BF). The IS, LTL, and BF muscles from both sides of 12 (6 male and 6 female) springbok carcasses were utilized. The muscles were fabricated (72 h postmortem) into 2.5-cm thick steaks, which were aerobically over-wrapped and stored for 8 d at 2°C. Surface color, myoglobin redox forms, pH, metmyoglobin reducing activity, total iron content, and myoglobin concentration were evaluated. Data were analyzed using mixed model repeated measures ANOVA. The IS exhibited greater (P < 0.05) redness, chroma, color stability, pH, oxymyoglobin content, and metmyoglobin reducing activity than its LTL and BF counterparts. Moreover, metmyoglobin formation and total iron content were lower in IS than in LTL and BF. The IS demonstrated stable redness and chroma throughout the storage, whereas the LTL and BF exhibited a steady decline. The results indicated that springbok IS muscle was the most color stable, while the LTL and BF did not differ in color stability from each other. These findings also suggested that muscle-specific processing methods could be utilized to improve retail color stability for fresh meat from springbok.