Terrebonne Parish School Serves “Glowing” Roast Beef

I’ve seen this in deli roast beef before…is this not normal?

Or maybe I’m about to die.

?

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is this not normal?

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It is

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Or maybe I’m about to die.

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It'll be alright

Pastrami is cured so that explains the sheen, roast beef isn’t

Totally normal...an article from America's Test Kitchen

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Pastrami is cured so that explains the sheen, roast beef isn’t

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The curing process does affect the reflections but it is physical not chemical or biological.

When you slice meat (foul and pork can do the same but not at much and it is easier to see on red meat) the fibers are cut and exposed. This is usually only very obvious when the meat is cut very smoothly like with a commercial rotary slicer. The cut exposes muscles fibers that look like small ridges across the surface and act like a diffraction grating which reflects light at different angles based on their wavelength. This is a form of structural coloration. What you are seeing is a result of the physical structure of the surface of the meat not some scary biological or chemical change in the meat. The curing process of pastrami tends to tighten the meat fibers and that often makes a better diffraction grating but it happens sometimes with roast beef. Roast beef is made from many different cuts of beef each one having a different physical structure to the fibers so the right cut of meat and the right cut angle will produce the effect.


ETA I meant to include a picture of a diffraction grating which I think makes it clear how meat fibers could act as one

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The roast beef sandwiches you buy out of a cooler at a gas station

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I’ve read a study on iridescent roast beef. It’s a physical change caused by slicing and is 100% safe. Has absolutely nothing to do with safety.

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I mean I've always seen sliced roast beef like that when it isn't an actual roast...

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Same.

It’s similar to one occasion where I saw someone on social media flipped out because they found a “whole tree leaf!” in food at a restaurant. It was a bay leaf.

I guess if you eat nothing but chicken nuggets and frozen grilled cheese sandwiches you don’t really know what prepared food looks like

The one time I ate at my grand sons school the meat was like that. The kids all ate it up. It was gosh awful terrible.