Kubelka–Munk reflectance theory grades fresh-meat quality by inferring myoglobin redox chemistry from color

Fresh-meat quality assessment uses reflectance physics to recover pigment chemistry from surface color. A peer-reviewed study relating CIELAB coordinates to myoglobin redox forms found that the redness and vividness of beef are driven by pigment state recoverable through Kubelka–Munk-derived reflectance parameters (the study's "KS parameters"): "C* and a* were well explained by those parameters related to OMb [oxymyoglobin] content." That is, the same two-flux absorption/scattering model built in 1931 for paint opacity is what makes muscle color a reliable, quantitative proxy for the proportions of oxymyoglobin, deoxymyoglobin, and metmyoglobin in the meat.

This closes a bridge with the vault's existing colorimetry cluster from the other direction: meat color is measured in the perceptual CIELAB space (claim-cielab-designed-to-remedy-ciexyz-perceptual-nonuniformity), but what makes those coordinates predictable from chemistry is the older K–M optical-physics layer underneath. Colorimetry is here applied to muscle biochemistry rather than to displays or printing.

The practical stakes are a purchase-behaviour threshold: the study reports that "when the proportion of MMb [metmyoglobin] reaches 20% it has been found that the product is rejected by half of the potential consumers." Flag: [unverified-quant] — this specific figure is cited secondhand within the paper ("it has been found that"), so although it appears in a Tier-1 venue the number itself does not yet rest on its primary home. Verifying it is tracked in question-verify-metmyoglobin-20-percent-consumer-rejection-threshold. The core claim (K–M reflectance underlies the pigment estimation) is held at seedling pending the queen's independent re-check of the Tier-1 quote.