Your steak isn’t leaking blood — here’s what that red liquid really is

Raw steaks usually have a natural, blood-like liquid in their packaging. Although its red coloring looks a lot like blood, that liquid is not what it seems. Following is a transcript of the video.

What's that red juice that leaks from raw red meat? It's a solution called "weep" or "purge." It's often mistaken for blood. But if that were true, most white meat would leak red, too. It's actually a result of freezing the meat during transport. The juice is a mix of water and myoglobin. Myoglobin is a protein within the muscle.

Most meat is made of 5% fat/carbs/minerals, 20% protein, and 75% water. When you freeze the meat, that water expands and turns into ice crystals. The crystals' sharp edges rupture muscle cells. When the ice thaws, it carries some myoglobin with it. Myoglobin contains iron — that's what gives red meat its color. It's also what turns the water a "bloody" red.

Red water or not, that's not stopping us from eating it. On average, Americans eat 100+ pounds of beef and pork a year.

This video was originally published May 2017.

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Contributer : Tech Insider http://ift.tt/2qkRtxB

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