Edwin Pawlowski > wrote:
>
>"jjfjksdf" > wrote in message
>>> It's not blood.
>>>
>>> It's mostly water and some fat.
>>
>> why is it red?
>
>Myoglobin or hemoglobin. I forget the exact chemistry of it all, but it is
>not blood.

A little of both. But blood occurs in blood vessels, and
is drained when the animal is killed, and more when it's
sectioned, and more when it's hung to age. None should be
in the muscle cells, and none left in the vessels except
in the capillaries, which are very small.

The red in "red meat" is myoglobin. It's there to carry
oxygen in the cell from the blood vessel just outside the
cell membrane to the mitochondria.

Why that's less yucky than blood I don't know. I mean,
if you're scared of eating blood, there's lots of stuff
just like blood all over meat...and plants...that
you should be scared of too...

--Blair