Spectra of Pigments Responsible for Pink Color in Pork Roasts Cooked to 65 or 82°C

Undenatured oxymyoglobin and deoxymyoglobin were the pigments responsible for pink color in pork roasts cooked to 65°C. Roasts cooked to 82°C had gray internal color after cooking, but panelists noted development of pink internal color after refrigerated storage. Reflectance spectra of pink slices from roasts cooked to 82°C, then stored for 12 days at 2°C, were characteristic of denatured globin hemo-chromes or related nonnitrosyl hemochromes.