Muscle-Specific Color Stability of Fresh Meat from Springbok (Antidorcas marsupialis)

Springbok (Antidorcas marsupialis), a popular South African game species, has significant potential in meat production. Considering the importance of fresh meat color on consumers’ purchasing intent, the objective of this study was to evaluate the color stability of 3 economically important springbok muscles, infraspinatus (IS), longissimus thoracis et lumborum (LTL), and biceps femoris (BF). The IS, LTL, and BF muscles from both sides of 12 (6 male and 6 female) springbok carcasses were utilized. The muscles were fabricated (72 h postmortem) into 2.5-cm thick steaks, which were aerobically over-wrapped and stored for 8 d at 2°C. Surface color, myoglobin redox forms, pH, metmyoglobin reducing activity, total iron content, and myoglobin concentration were evaluated. Data were analyzed using mixed model repeated measures ANOVA. The IS exhibited greater (P < 0.05) redness, chroma, color stability, pH, oxymyoglobin content, and metmyoglobin reducing activity than its LTL and BF counterparts. Moreover, metmyoglobin formation and total iron content were lower in IS than in LTL and BF. The IS demonstrated stable redness and chroma throughout the storage, whereas the LTL and BF exhibited a steady decline. The results indicated that springbok IS muscle was the most color stable, while the LTL and BF did not differ in color stability from each other. These findings also suggested that muscle-specific processing methods could be utilized to improve retail color stability for fresh meat from springbok.