Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, November 21, 1994                   TAG: 9501110029
SECTION: NEWSFUN                    PAGE: NF-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

S0?!!

"Would you like white meat or dark meat?" the person serving you asks. White meat, dark meat: What causes the difference?

Myoglobin does. It's a pigment - another word for coloring - that stores and moves oxygen. The myoglobin ends up in certain muscles of the turkey because of the kind of work they do.

Turkey meat is just different kinds of muscle. Muscle is made up of fiber tissues, which are made up of cells. In turkeys, and other kinds of birds, fiber tissues have a mix of red and white cells, depending on the type of muscle. Muscles with more red cells contain a lot of myoglobin and iron, which makes meat darker.

Some scientists believe certain muscles have more myoglobin than others because some areas need more oxygen. For example, the leg muscles do a lot of work, so they need oxygen. Because myoglobin brings oxygen to the muscles, there's a lot of pigment in the legs, and the meat is darker. The breast meat of the turkey needs very little oxygen, so there's no myoglobin. That's why some meat is white.

That's also why white and dark meat taste different - their fibers are either soft or chewy, depending on the kind of work they did.

Enjoy your bird and your holiday.