Pink Turkey meat: is it safe?

• Position: Your Life - Brief Article

With all eyes focused on the bird, you make your first slice into the Thanksgiving turkey breast, revealing a horrific sight--pink meat! Is the turkey safe to eat, or will your family be forced to forego the main course of the festive feast?

"Because consumers are aware that salmonella can be present in raw poultry, they tend to be wary of pink meat," notes Melinda Hemmelgarn, associate state nutrition specialist, University of Missouri-Columbia. "However, pink turkey meat is not necessarily unsafe."

Andrew Clarke, a meat scientist at the university, explains that poultry most commonly acquires a pinkish color near surfaces when combustion gases produced in a gas oven react chemically with myoglobin, the protein...