Novel Approach for Stabilizing Meat Color of Fish and Domestic Animals : Application of Natural Antioxidants from Edible Mushrooms

Myoglobin is known as a hemoprotein imparting color of meat products. It has been observed that rapid darkening or browning of meats containing higher concentration of myoglobin such as tuna meat and beef occurs when these meats are chilled or even though frozen above - 40 C. This study was conducted to investigate that the extracts prepared from fruiting body and waste cultured medium of edible mushrooms have abilities to stabilize bright-red color of fresh beef and fish meat by adding the extracts to the meat or feeding the extracts as dietary supplementation to the live fish. These results clearly show that edible mushrooms are bioresource of natural antioxidants for stabilizing meat color of fish and domestic animals.