That Red Juice in Your Meat Isn’t Blood! (2024)

FAQs

That Red Juice in Your Meat Isn’t Blood!? ›

Any red fluid you see coming out of your steak is likely water and myoglobin, not blood. What happens when you cook meat? – Myoglobin is made of a protein and a heme ring, which contains an iron atom, both of which change when meat is cooked: The protein denatures, and the state of the iron changes.

That red liquid is water mixed a protein called myoglobin. See as meat ages, the muscle tissue breaks down – and it doesn't take long. The water and myoglobin cells inside the meat are released and voila, a red blood-like liquid emanates from the meat when it is prepared.

Blood is removed from beef during slaughter and only a small amount remains within the muscle tissue. Since beef is about 3/4 water, this natural moisture combined with protein is the source of the liquid in the package.

Well, the liquid you see in those packages isn't blood at all. It is actually a combination of water and a protein called myoglobin. Myoglobin is a protein found in red meat that transports oxygen in the cells. As a piece of meat ages, the muscle tissue breaks down, causing the liquid and myoglobin to leak out.

What's that red juice that leaks from raw red meat? It's a solution called "weep" or "purge." It's often mistaken for blood. But if that were true, most white meat would leak red, too. It's actually a result of freezing the meat during transport. The juice is a mix of water and myoglobin.

The meat's remaining liquid is only water. Myoglobin, when exposed to air, turns red and mixes with water. That's why it looks like blood, but we can assure you it's quite not. Once cooked, this myoglobin, still in the meat, turns brownish.

Your kidneys filter your blood for myoglobin so that it can be passed out of your body in your urine. But too much myoglobin can overwhelm your kidneys and lead to kidney failure. In some cases, healthcare providers will use a urine test for myoglobin to help find the problem and protect your kidney health.

Most mammals have plenty of myoglobin in their tissue, which is why meat that comes from mammals – including beef, lamb and pork – is known as 'red meat', and meat that comes from animals with low levels of myoglobin (like most poultry) or no myoglobin at all (like some sea life) is known as 'white meat'.

No. The United States Department of Agriculture recommends not eating or tasting raw or undercooked meat. Meat may contain harmful bacteria. Thorough cooking is important to kill any bacteria and viruses that may be present in the food.

A juicy, succulent fillet steak, grilled medium rare.

Do butchers drain blood from meat? ›

The blood appearing liquid in your hamburger package is actually not blood, but is myoglobin. Nearly all of the blood is drained from a carcass within the first few minutes of the harvest process. Myoglobin is the heme-iron containing protein found in muscle that stores oxygen and gives meat its color.

Many people think the pink liquid in packaged fresh chicken is blood, but it is mostly water that was absorbed by the chicken during the chilling process. Blood is removed from poultry during slaughter and only a small amount remains in the muscle tissue.

Lean finely textured beef (also known as Pink slime or LFTB, finely textured beef, or boneless lean beef trimmings or BLBT) is a meat by-product used as a food additive to ground beef and beef-based processed meats, as a filler, or to reduce the overall fat content of ground beef.

Ice crystals in the frozen meat break down the cell walls, permitting the release of meat juices during cooking. The same thing happens after ground meat is frozen at home.

The pigment responsible for the red color in meat is oxymyoglobin, a substance found in all warm-blooded animals. Fresh cut meat is purplish in color. The interior of the meat may be grayish brown due to lack of oxygen; however, if all the meat in the package has turned gray or brown, it may be beginning to spoil.

Myoglobin is a globular heme protein found in muscles, capable of reversible oxygen binding via a heme-bound iron atom [16]. It is important for the sensory quality of meat and has been associated with a serum-like taste and metallic mouthfeel of beef [17].

Myoglobin is also released when a muscle is injured, which is one of the markers used to identify when a person has a heart attack. Research has demonstrated that a diet high in meat containing myoglobin increases the risk of certain cancers, as the compounds of the protein are toxic to the kidneys and digestive tract.

Myoglobin breaks down during cooking and causes meat to be brownish in color when cooked to well done (170+ F). Meat at lower degrees of doneness such as rare (140 F) and medium rare (145 F) has not fully denatured and still provides some red or pinkish red color to the cooked meat.

If you have a steak medium rare, it isn't actually blood that comes out when you cut into the hot steak. The red substance is actually myoglobin, the protein responsible for transferring oxygen to muscles.

Bringing the meat to the correct temperature ensures that any bacteria present in or on the meat will die. To safely eat a steak, grill or sear it on high heat. Then bring the internal temperature up to 120-125°F (rare), 125-130°F (medium rare), or 135-140°F.