Meat not red enough? Add a little carbon monoxide.

So I was surprised when I was reading reports on the doings of the congressional committees and came across a piece about carbon monoxide and meat packaging. I think I got a C in high school chemistry, so I looked it up. Apparently, the carbon monoxide combines with myoglobin to form carbomyoglobin (?), which produces a bright red cherry pigment. This coloring is applied to meat as it is being packaged, giving it the appearance of looking fresh off the bone. The USDA and FDA gave this practice a "generally recognized as safe" status in 2002.
To get back to the congressional committee doings though, the article said that panel Democrats are concerned that the use of carbon monoxide to artificially make meat appear red can give consumers the illusion that the meat is fresher or safer than it actually is. The American Meat Institute argues that the use of carbon monoxide is necessary because meat turns brown too quickly for consumers' taste. Just like Snow White, us consumers just can't resist picking the shiniest and reddest of the bunch. Those meat packers know us all too well.