The present inventors found that a natural red pigment can be obtained from hemoglobin and myoglobin whose metalloporphyrin moiety is zinc protoporphyrin, and made meat products, whale meat products, fish meat products and fish paste products that were colored with the natural red pigment. Consequently, it was possible to obtain food products stable to oxidation and exhibiting an excellent color tone without the need to use a color fixative, e.g. nitrite.
This application is a divisional of prior application Ser. No. 10/503,338 filed Aug. 2, 2004, which is a national stage of international application no. PCT/JP03/00924 filed on Jan. 30, 2003, the benefit of which is claimed under 35 U.S.C. .sctn.120.
Priority Data
Feb 01, 2002 [JP] 2002-025117 Jan 24, 2003 [JP] 2003-015807
