Myoglobin
MyoglobinMyoglobin is the pigment that makes meat red — not blood, as is commonly assumed, but the oxygen-carrying protein of muscle itself. It is listed as a colour for meat products.
Where it is and isn’t permitted
| Jurisdiction | Status | Scope and limits | Citation |
|---|---|---|---|
| United States | Permitted | 21 CFR 73.297retrieved 2026-09-07 | |
| Codex Alimentarius | Not listedDoes not appear on this jurisdiction’s permitted list. That is not the same as being prohibited. |
What it is made from
Extracted from animal muscle tissue. It is an animal protein, and the colour changes people see in meat are this molecule binding oxygen and then oxidising.
- Not vegan
- Not vegetarian
- May raise a halal question
- May raise a kosher question
Every name it appears under
1 recorded name. A label may use any of them.
As it appears in regulation
- Myoglobin
Hazard reference values
No reference value for this substance in the sources we hold.
Evidence and how bodies read it
Studies, and the differing conclusions regulators drew from them, are curated by hand rather than machine-read, and none has been written for this substance yet.
Sources for this page
- ecfr retrieved 2026-09-07
Full licence terms and publisher details on Sources. How this page is built and updated: Method.
Machine-readable:/api/v1/additives/myoglobin.json