Rumour has it that red meat bought at the supermarket, is dyed red, or at least cryo-packaged in a red dye and water solution. I can’t seem to find any proof, or for that matter any dis-proof of this by Googling.
Most likely the red colour is caused by the myoglobin content, but there seems to be some evidence that dye is involved. Anyone know for sure?
Guess what? Butter is also dyed yellow.
Whoops, thought I killed that after seeing Cheesesteak’s post.
Nitrites are also used to give meat a red/pink color, although not so much as in the past.
Ummm, ohh kayyy…
I have a feeling you think I’m against this possible dying? I never said anything of the like. I was simply asking a question.
Grocery store cheddar (well, orange) also.
And most black pearls.
Add to the dyed list farm raised salmon. Though in this case it’s a feed additive.
Take a look at things like balogna, you will see that it has dye in it. Otherwise it would look an unappealing grey color. The same is true of hot dogs, so why not also dye steak red? (Otherwise it would turn an icky brownish color, and would look off before it was off.) Apples are also often dyed, (or at least waxed) as well as oranges.
Didn’t mean you to take that wrong. It was just a smart-ass way of saying lots of products have been dyed for our aesthetic pleasure.
Food dye is the best thing in balogna.
Flamingoes are also dyed. They are normally a dull white-gray, and get their pink color from shellfish. In zoos and safari parks, they eat food pellets that have to be supplemented with this pigment to make them look “wild” pink and interesting.
Not all butter.
Off the top of my head, Land O’ Lakes doesn’t use any dyes in their butter. I’ve seen an interview with an executive who stated that you could see color variations from one batch to another because of this.
WTF? What a bunch of misinformation and twaddle in this thread. FDA laws on food labelling require very clear and explicit labeling of any additive or adulterant added to food products which would include dyes. True, this does not apply to dyes impregnated in food like in the case of salmon and flamingos.
Nitrates are only used on cured meats and the pink colour that nitrates cause can in no way be confused with the deep red of fresh meat. Apples are not in any way dyed and dying is completely and utterly different from waxing.
What hasn’t been mentioned is that many meat counters utilise specially coloured lights which can make their meat look redder and fresher. If you look carefully, you can usually spot these lights at the top of a display rack as they look distinctly red.
No one but you has even mentioned nitrates.
They are cheaper than the day rates.
Oh, yes, meat is dyed.
This is one of the problems I had while trying to get my canteen at work switch to selling organic meat. The canteen wanted to give the customers a choice between organic ham and just mainstream commercial. Sounded fair, right? Only it wouldn’t work. Research showed that if you sell two packaged slices of ham, one organic and one just mainstream commercial, nobody wants to buy the organic one. Despite their lip-service to how great organic food is. And it is al a matter of looks. Organic ham juIt is a dull unattractive pinkish grey with a twinge of green.Frankly, it looks a bit “off”. But it tastes just the same.
Not all organic meat is so pale. Some organic meats look the same as maistream. But ham is a good example of the color difference caused by dye.
I think you’re thinking of margarine. Margarine is dyed yellow in order to make it look more like butter. Butter is naturally yellow.
My point being, of course, that organic ham is so pale because organic meat-processing doesn’t allow chemical dyes and so organich ham has the color real ham would have if it wasn’t dyed. Organic meatprocessing does sometimes allow dyes based on beetroot or pepper, though.
No it isn’t. I have made home made butter using this method, it comes out pretty much white unless you add food coloring. Try it yourself and see.