Meat color is important for consumer acceptability, with excessively dark meat often associated with consumer rejection. It is determined chromatically by pigment content (measured by hue and chroma) and achromatically by scattering of light by the microstructure (measured by lightness), the latter of which has received minimal research focus. This review discusses the individual components of the meat microstructure that cause differences in achromatic contributions to color. Differences in achromatic light scattering between light and dark extremes of meat color are most likely explained by structural attributes within the muscle cell. These differences are proposed to arise from variations in (a) transverse shrinkage of the structural lattice of the myofilaments, myofibrils, and muscles fibers, (b) longitudinal shrinkage of the sarcomere, and (c) different protein composition of the surrounding medium (sarcoplasm and extracellular space). These are discussed at a mechanistic level, in relation to six parameters of the muscle cell: (a) protein surface charge altering the myofilament spacing, (b) protein solubility, (c) sarcoplasmic protein binding to myofilaments and myofibrils, (d) integrity of the cytoskeleton and cell adhesion proteins, (e) sarcomere integrity and myofibrillar proteins, and (f) myosin denaturation and rigor bond modification. New data are presented to support the proposed role of structural elements in muscle causing achromatic light scattering and their contribution to the surface color of meat. In addition, the relationships between lightness and water holding capacity and pH are explored and the economic impact of dark meat for the meat industry is discussed.

中文翻译：

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肉色不仅取决于血红素色素，还取决于肌肉的物理结构和消色差光散射特性。

肉色对于消费者的可接受性很重要，而过深的肉通常与消费者的拒绝感相关。它是通过颜料含量（通过色相和色度测量）在色度上确定的，而通过微结构（通过亮度测量）对光的散射是消色差的，后者的研究很少。这篇评论讨论了导致颜色的消色差不同的肉的微观结构的各个组成部分。肉色的亮与暗极限之间的消色差光散射差异最可能由肌肉细胞内的结构属性来解释。提出这些差异是由于（a）肌丝，肌原纤维和肌纤维的结构晶格的横向收缩，（b）肌节的纵向收缩，（c）周围介质（肌浆和细胞外空间）的蛋白质组成不同。在涉及肌肉细胞六个参数的机械学水平上讨论了这些：（a）改变肌丝间距的蛋白质表面电荷，（b）蛋白质溶解度，（c）与肌丝和肌原纤维结合的肌浆蛋白，（d）完整性的细胞骨架和细胞粘附蛋白，（e）肌小节完整性和肌原纤维蛋白，以及（f）肌球蛋白变性和严格键修饰。提出了新的数据来支持结构元素在肌肉中引起消色差光散射及其对肉类表面颜色的贡献的拟议作用。此外，探讨了亮度与持水量和pH值之间的关系，并讨论了黑肉对肉类工业的经济影响。