The dirty little secret about why supermarket and large healthfood store display cases of meat are always uniformly red will hopefully motivate you to buy from local businesses instead!
The picture above shows the stark, visual difference between organic ground beef purchased from Whole Foods (on the right) versus local, grassfed ground beef from a butcher (on the left).
Notice also how the red color of the meat on the right looks decidedly fake.
The picture shows what the meat looks like after I put both packages in the refrigerator after purchasing on the same day…and then opening them up a couple of days later to see the color of the meat!
Things aren’t always as they appear, are they?
Bright Red Supermarket Meat
Have you ever wondered why the supermarket meat display case is always red..so bright red, in fact, that it looks fake?
Is it possible that every package on display was freshly cut that day?
If you’ve talked to a supermarket meat manager before or have a butcher in the family, you know this is simply not the case.
While some new cuts are put out every day, many of the meat packages have been sitting in the display case for two, three, four days, or even longer.
Most consumers never stop to wonder about this, but anyone who has ever purchased meat from a small farm or a local butcher knows that this is not a natural occurrence.
Once meat becomes exposed to air, oxidation begins which gradually turns the red color of the meat to a more unappetizing brown or grey color within just a few days.
This never seems to happen to supermarket meat, does it?
The meat is uniformly red not various shades of red, brown, and grey which would be truly reflective of when the meat department put each package in the display case.
What’s really going on here?
Carbon Monoxide Turns Meat Red Even if Spoiled
The fact is that as much as 70 percent of meat sold in stores in the United States is treated with carbon monoxide to keep the meat a deceptively fresh-looking red color.
Even more disturbing, Europe banned this practice many years ago because it was deemed unsafe! Japan and Canada have banned carbon monoxide as a color stabilizer in meat and fish as well. (1)
What is carbon monoxide anyway?
It is an odorless, colorless, poisonous gas that is almost impossible to see, taste, or smell.
It is emitted from car exhaust pipes, gas-powered lawnmowers, chimneys, gas stoves (if not used properly), unvented space heaters, and charcoal grills.
The industrialized meat industry (aka Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations – CAFO) insists that treatment with carbon monoxide, called “modified atmosphere packaging” (MAP), is necessary due to the difficulty of keeping meat at the proper temperature while in grocery store coolers. (2)
The internal temperature of retail meat is not supposed to exceed 39° Fahrenheit (4° Celsius) at any time.
An increase of just a degree or two can result in an enormous increase in bacterial growth. (3)
For example, raising the temperature from 28°F (-2° C) to 29°F (-1.5° C) can cut the shelf life of meat in half.
The problem stems from ultraviolet light from the grocery store display lights heating up the surface temperature of the meat much higher than the thermometer reading in the display case.
This occurs due to the penetration of the UV light into the meat packaging similar to how our skin can burn even on a very cold day when the sun is shining.
Due to the struggles with temperature consistency, atmospheric packaging was developed.
When meat is exposed to carbon monoxide, it reacts with the myoglobin in the blood giving the meat a bright red color.
Fresh beef is naturally red, and as it ages, it becomes brownish or grey.
Gassing beef with carbon monoxide keeps it looking artificially fresh for up to a full year!
This occurs by restricting the growth of bacteria that proliferate from the increased heat of supermarket meat display cases.
Is Eating Carbon Monoxide Dangerous?
Carbon monoxide is fatal if inhaled in large amounts because the CO molecule attaches to hemoglobin in the blood and replaces oxygen in the bloodstream.
Even minor exposure can cause fatigue, headaches, and confusion.
Increasing exposure leads to unconsciousness and then death.
Individuals who are fortunate enough to survive poisoning with carbon monoxide frequently continue to suffer from neurological problems.
Despite the danger, consumer groups have been unsuccessful in recent years to stop the deceptive practice of treating supermarket meat with carbon monoxide.
True to form, the industrialized meat industry says that, unlike inhalation, carbon monoxide is not harmful when it is ingested via meat treated with atmospheric packaging.
Translation: “We NEED to gas the meat to maximize our profits and hide dangerous industry food handling practices from the public”.
The industrialized meat industry also insists that “modified atmosphere packaging” is necessary to keep meat affordable as consumers won’t buy brown meat even if it’s still fine to eat. (4)
This causes meat that is perfectly good for sale to be thrown out unnecessarily.
Hmmm.
How come local meat producers and supermarkets in the EU, Canada, and Japan don’t seem to have this problem and yet they DON’T gas their meat??
Sounds like gaslighting to me!
Ann Boeckman, a lawyer with a legal firm for the meat industry, says consumers needn’t worry about fake red supermarket meat.
When a product reaches the point of spoilage, there will be other signs that will be evidenced–for example odor, slime formation and a bulging package–so the product will not smell or look right. (5)
Don’t you feel so much better after reading that statement?
No worries about supermarket meat that looks fresh when it’s not.
You’ll know there’s a problem by the bad smell and the slimy feel of rotting meat even though it still looks bright red and ready to throw on the grill.
Just keep buying that fake red supermarket meat (along with the fake pink sustainable salmon) and stop complaining, ok?
It’s cheap, right? That’s all that is supposed to count for consumers anyway!
Where to Find Healthy Grassfed Meats
If this sounds ridiculous to you as it does to me and the lure of cheap food is just a little less appealing after reading this article, consider a switch to small farm-produced, grass-fed meats by clicking here.
Online shopping for quality meat has now gone mainstream and is a fantastic way to get quality meat shipped to your door even if you live in a “food desert”.
Alternatively, you can spend a few dollars and have a copy of the Weston A. Price Shopping Guide mailed to you.
Let your fingers do the walking to find a safe source of quality meat for your family that is surprisingly affordable.
As always, a locally owned butcher shop where they grind the meat fresh for every customer who comes through the door is an excellent way to go.
(1) Your Meat Is Treated with Carbon Monoxide to Make It Look Fresh
(2, 5) We’re Eating What? 9 Contaminants in US Meat
(3) Carbon Added to Meat Inhibits Bacteria Growth
(4) Carbon Monoxide keeps meat red longer; is that good?
I work in the HVAC (heating ventilation and air conditioning). Co is a major concern. It takes ALOT of co to kill a person in 1-2 minutes. That’s about 12800 PPM. 1-70 ppm is considered safe, but heart patients my have increased chest pain heigher than 50-70 ppm. That being said, that’s in a gaseous state, being readily inhaled in to the lungs and allowed to cross the gas/blood barrier in the lungs. I would need to see an adaptive table on how ingesting an item that has soluable co in it equates to a vapor ppm. As your stomache acid is digesting the meat, what is happing to the absorbed gas as the meat is broken down.
They can irradiarte food and have it last for decades without refrigeration. It does not make the food radioactive. Inhaling Co is one thing, ingesting an item that has soluable co in it is another.
When you cry that the sky is falling, do your research and make sure there is something to crow about otherwise is just more hype and we should all ‘be afraid’.
I been a meat cutter for 51 years and the owner of meatcuttersclub.com. There is a few things wrong with this story but let me address the red color.
Red meat is mainly made up of muscles with fibers that are called slow fibers. These muscles are used for extended periods of activity, such as standing or walking and need a consistent energy source. The protein myoglobin stores oxygen in muscle cells, which use oxygen to extract the energy needed for constant activity. Myoglobin is a richly pigmented protein. The more myoglobin there is in the cells, the redder or darker, the meat is. Red meat is red because the muscle fibers that make up the bulk of the meat contain a high content of myoglobin, which are colored red. Myoglobin, a protein similar to hemoglobin in red blood cells, acts as a store for oxygen within the muscle fibers.
When freshly slaughtered meat is cut into steaks, the muscle tissue comes into contact with oxygen in the air. The myoglobin in the meat binds this oxygen, forming oxymyoglobin and giving the meat a red color.
Treatment with carbon monoxide is only found in pre cut meats handled by Wal Mart and a few big chains. Butcher shops and chain stores that cut their meat in store do not use carbon monoxide.
Thank you for this very good blog, and for all the helpful videos and recipes!
I just wanted to mention that in Norway, where I live, carbon monoxide was used before. Now it is prohibited. When I read your blog, I’m thankful that I live in a country where the food industry is a little bit better than in the US.
Today I got fresh milk for the first time, and I am so excited! Can’t wait to get whey and make some of your fermented food. 🙂
So “having plenty of food while people starve in other countries” is supposed to detract from the problems of the American food system? Well, there may not be “starvation” here, but theres plenty of low-grade malnutrition caused by poor quality foods that contribute to chronic health problems in America. A rather lame argument from the food giants and uniformed consumers.
I agree. I get irritated with the phrase “first-world problems” as if we should just stop trying to improve our lives because we’re not in a 3rd world country. They are still problems!
Personally I eat local patsured beef. I do not care one bit if the CO2 is present or not I choose not to eat factory food. Any one care to see how bad it is just follow the recalls voluntary and otherwise. Shocking how poorly managed the processed food industry is. Sarah, keep up the great work in bringing this stuff to light.
In answer to “Diligent Dan” –
1. Sarah’s own reference link is titled “Carbon Monoxide Added to Meat to Prevent Bacteria Growth”. I just restated it. Since it is HER reference and you apparently accept what she said without question, I don’t think I have to provide any further reference on the subject.
2. Have you ever tried to “eat” a gas? Ever tried to swallow air? What happens? This is something that children so commonly do, it doesn’t require any references. Anyone who was ever a child knows what happens when you swallow air.
3. Ever eaten a chili pepper? does it have the same effect as inhaling pepper spray? Again – no references are needed to show that the effects are different. I’m sure you’ve seen at least once or twice on TV what happens when a person is pepper-sprayed.
4. Do you pay attention to the news? Are you not aware that when a widespread problem is detected in the food supply the media immediately jumps on it and it is reported on for weeks. Can you honestly tell me that you weren’t aware of the mad cow scare? Of course you were! I don’t need to reference particular newspaper articles to back up this claim, because people are already aware of what happens.
This stuff isn’t rocket science – it’s basic observation of what goes on in the world – minus the conspiracy theories. I just happen to think about what I read.
MJ,
You may have the last word. What has already been said speaks for itself.
I will just repeat my last two lines:
Be part of the solution instead of the problem. Learn what the powers that be are doing to the common people and help fight the good fight against man’s inhumanity to man.
Dan,
You know I’m curious, what do non-CAFO producers do to reduce bacteria – the pastured-raised meat I purchsae is just vacuum sealed. If the standard grocers were simply, adding the CO to limit bacterial growth, I would think they would do the same – otherwise I would have to suspect that the real agenda is the deceptive coloring.
In any event, since we are talking about my health, I have to err on the side of caution as best as I can. Also, interesiing that folks trying to be as informed as possible because that’s the only way one can make rational decisions – are obsessed.
Thanks, Sarah! I so appreciate the education I have received from your blog!
And yes, you can get very sick from bad meat and has been in the news more often than I would like to see. We escaped this recalled meat while on vacation in Maine by opting for frozen hamburgers that were organic and grassfed: http://www.startribune.com/local/163395576.html We were so thankful that we paid the extra money because we didn’t hear the news until several days after we had consumed that meal.
Yet another reason I am glad to buy my meat from a small local and organic farm!
As I was growing up as a child more than 50 years ago, everyone I knew would accept a live rooster to butcher and eat. Almost everyone in my community over the age of 5 was involved in butchering animals as large as cows.
The people at the free store came around asking for food donations. I offered them a half dozen live young free range roosters. The lady looked shocked, and said we can’t use them.
Butchering skills enable a person to keep the Government out of their kitchen. Small animals such as lambs, goats, pigs. chickens, turkeys, and ducks, can be acquired from hobby farmers that are dedicated to the cause of chemical free, GMO free pastured animals.
The Government doesn’t allow farmers to butcher their livestock and sell it, but livestock can be bought live. Once it’s in your possession you can process and eat it.
If you don’t have butchering skills you can start out with small animals, like chickens, rabbits, and other similar sized animals.
Butchering adds to your food freedom
Your ancestors had no qualms about butchering, or you wouldn’t be here..
Excellent points, DRK!
I’m reminded of the old adage:
Give a man a fish; feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish; feed him for life.
Also check with shops that process deer in hunting season. They might know of hunters or farmers who do their own butchering and would be willing to help/teach or butcher your animal, possibly for part of the meat.
So the moral here is don’t inhale your meat?