Color changes in the surface of fresh cut meat: A fractal kinetic application

Abstract

Color stability of fresh meat gives an idea about possible consumer preferences based on the appearance of the product, and it is an important property that influences its market value and the consumer’s purchase decision. Color changes on the surface of fresh cut meat were evaluated applying fractal kinetic analysis based on the redness color value (a* value from CIELab and R value from RGB) as an alternative to the traditional method where an average of the color intensity is used; in addition the thiobarbituric acid and metmyoglobin content in the meat samples were measured. The kinetic rate and the shape factor (empirical order) values were calculated from data fitted to the power law model. In the experiments, freshly cut samples of meat were placed on a styrofoam tray and the fresh cut surface was evaluated for color and color stability using a computer vision system. The styrofoam tray with the samples was placed inside an environmental test chamber at 5 °C (± 1 °C) and at 85% relative humidity for 2.2 days. The results showed that it is possible to model changes in the intensity of the redness color in meat using fractal kinetic analysis, and that fractal dimension can be used as an indicator of changes in the non-homogenous distribution of the colors associated with redness intensity.