Why does beef turn green?

As we all know, normal beef should be bright red, which is the normal color. Xiao Ye, who cooks frequently, told us that he recently experienced an incredible thing: the beef was actually green. Yes, you heard it right, it was green beef. Of course, before this, the beef was still a normal bright red color, so why did the beef turn green? Is it still safe to eat this kind of beef?

Some people think that green beef has something to do with physics:

@Doraemon takes out his pocket: This is normal, it is an optical phenomenon. It may also be colorful because beef is generally cut perpendicular to the muscle fibers. This optical phenomenon will occur, just like the peacock feathers themselves are colorless, but because of this optical phenomenon they appear colorful.

This phenomenon only occurs in good beef. If it is braised beef with injected glue, it will not be like this. You can often buy some braised beef from time-honored brands, and you will often find this phenomenon of color.

I had optical problems after eating beef once! It's incredible!

Grating Effect

Have you ever seen a cable? In fact, the muscle tissue of animals looks similar to cables, which are formed by muscle fibers tied together one by one.

When you cut meat, the muscle fibers are cut, and many regularly arranged concave and convex structures are formed on the cross section. When light hits this section from the right angle, an optical effect called "reflective grating diffraction" occurs.

So you can see rainbow-like colors, including all shades of green, yellow, and red. In fact, this effect is not unique to beef, but can also be found in pork, mutton, donkey meat, dog meat, chicken, duck meat, and fish. Furthermore, this phenomenon usually occurs with cooked meat, not raw meat. If you cut along the muscle texture, reflections are less likely to occur.

In fact, it is not uncommon to see green beef when you eat it. @博物杂志君, who is well-versed in astronomy and geography on Weibo, once told us that this is a normal phenomenon, so please stay calm...

Common diffraction phenomena

In fact, the diffraction effects of light are not uncommon in life, but you are unlikely to associate them with the reflection of meat. For example, the colored reflections of computer CDs, the colored reflections of bird feathers, the reflections of insect wings and body surfaces, etc.

If you don't know if the green color of the meat is light diffraction, there is actually a simple way to confirm it. You just need to slightly change the angle of observation. If it is grating diffraction, the color will change or even disappear. If the color does not change, it is most likely caused by deterioration.