An Explanation of Subsurface Optical Pathways through Food Myosystems and their Effect on Colorimetry
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24203/ajafs.v9i4.6706Abstract
Light may pass along and across the long axes of muscle fibers in any food myosystem. Thus, incident light may be scattered in several ways before some of it reappears at the surface as diffuse reflectance. Pathways may be short if scattering is strong, or long if scattering is weak. Short pathways minimize selective absorbance by chromophores such as myoglobin, while long pathways maximize selective absorbance. Many food myosystems exhibit a post-mortem decrease in pH caused by anaerobic glycolysis with a series of microstructural changes – glycogen granules between myofibrils are lost, myofibrils shrink laterally as myofilaments move closer together, water moves from within myofibrils to the space between them, muscle fiber membranes leak and lose their electrical capacitance, and myoglobin is flushed into the fluid filled spaces between muscle fibers. These changes increase scattering of light passing across the long axes of muscle fibers. Scattering of light along muscle fibers is caused by sarcomere discs (A-bands). Interference from one or a small number of sarcomere discs may cause iridescence, but in most cases interference from numerous discs causes achromatic diffuse reflectance. Commission International de l’Éclairage (CIE) chromaticity coordinates were calculated for various subsurface optical pathways. Pathways across versus along muscle fibers had a strong effect on CIE y (r = 0.84, P < 0.01) and an even stronger effect on CIE Y% (r = 0.95, P < 0.005).
References
Fox, J.B. (1987). The pigments of meat. In The Science of Meat and Meat Products J.F. Price and B.S. Schweigert (Eds). pp. 193-216. Food Nutrition Press, Westport, CT. https://agris.fao.org/agris-search/search.do?recordID=US891288
Swatland, H.J. (1989). Effect of temperature (0 - 80ºC) on the interior reflectance of ovine sternomandibularis muscle. International Journal of Food Science and Technology 24:503-510. https://ifst.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1365-2621.1989.tb00673.x
Bendall, J.R. and Swatland, H.J. (1988). A review of the relationships of pH with physical aspects of pork quality. Meat Science 24:85-126. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/0309174088900526
Elliott, R.J. (1967) Effect of optical systems and sample preparation on the visible reflection spectra of pork. Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture 18: 332- 338. https://doi.org/10.1002/jsfa.2740180802
Swatland, H.J. (2011). Basic science for carcass grading. VI Congresso Brasileiro de Ciência e Tecnologia de Carnes. pp. 119-126. VI Congresso Brasileiro de Ciência e Tecnologia de Carnes (suinoculturaindustrial.com.br)
Ramanathan, R., Hunt, M.C., Mancini, R.A., Nair, M.N., Denzer, M.L., Suman, S.P., and Mafi, G.G. (2020). Recent updates in meat color research: integrating traditional and high-throughput approaches. Meat and Muscle Biology 4(2). https://doi.org/10.22175/mmb.9598
Hughes, J.M., Clarke, F.M., Purslow, P., and Warner, R.D. (2019). Meat color is determined not only by chromatic heme pigments but also by the physical structure and achromatic light scattering properties of the muscle: muscle light scattering properties. Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety 19(1) December 2019. DOI: 10.1111/1541-4337.12509
Billmeyer, F.W. and Saltzman, M. (1981). Principles of Color Technology. John Wiley, New York.
Bowman, W. 1840. On the minute structure and movements of voluntary muscle. Philosophical Transactions 130: 457-501. https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rstl.1840.0022
Ruedt, C., Gibis, M., Barbut, S. and Weiss, J. (2021). Colour changes with longitudinal compression supports hypothesis of multilayer interference as a cause of meat iridescence. International Journal of Food Science and Technology 56: 250-258. https://ifst.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/ijfs.14626
Swatland, H.J. (2019). Signal analysis of optical interference in relation to colorimetry for measurements made along individual myofibers in cooked beef. Asian Journal of Agriculture and Food Sciences 7 (6). Https://www.ajouronline.com/index.php/AJAFS/article/view/5951
Swatland, H.J. (1999). Photometric relationship between path length and transmittance through pork measured by fiber optics. Food Research International 32: 305-312. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S096399699900085
Swatland, H.J. (1997). Post-mortem changes in pork using parallel needles for both light scattering and low-frequency electrical properties. Food Research International 30: 293-298. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0963996997000495
Swatland, H.J. (2017). A review of microcolorimetry for textile, food, dental and optoelectronic industries. Asian Journal of Engineering and Technology 5:14
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2021 Howard James Swatland

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
- Papers must be submitted on the understanding that they have not been published elsewhere (except in the form of an abstract or as part of a published lecture, review, or thesis) and are not currently under consideration by another journal published by any other publisher.
- It is also the authors responsibility to ensure that the articles emanating from a particular source are submitted with the necessary approval.
- The authors warrant that the paper is original and that he/she is the author of the paper, except for material that is clearly identified as to its original source, with permission notices from the copyright owners where required.
- The authors ensure that all the references carefully and they are accurate in the text as well as in the list of references (and vice versa).
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
- The journal/publisher is not responsible for subsequent uses of the work. It is the author's responsibility to bring an infringement action if so desired by the author.