Why is beef meat red and poultry meat white?
Meat is muscle. The most simple explanation is, if the muscle works, it gets more blood supply so is darker with use. As, for example, most chickens are kept in restricted conditions and can not exercise and are slaughtered at about 45 days they have no chance to develop breast or even thigh muscle. Free range birds get the opportunity to move about and so can gain in effect a ‘better’ meat. Poultry can be red – think ‘dark’ meat on a turkey or pigeon breast, which come form parts of the bird that is ‘used’ Animals meat can be very pale – veal, some pork etc. The muscle make up of fish differs from mammal/bird so we get white fish – but there are also dark meat fish; think tuna – dark ‘cos that species is a very fast swimming predator, so their muscle devlopes with a colour in that species. Meat that is hung allows the muscle fibres to relax and in fact start to break cown so you get a fuller flavour and more rounded taste. Intensive production precludes this essential action, so super
