Rabbit meat in the course of aging was examined for color and pH to determine the changes occurring in both parameters with time. The study used New Zealand White × Belgian Giant Grey rabbit crosses. The animals were fed pellets ad libitum. Color was investigated on the basis of lightness (L*), redness (a*), yellowness (b*), chroma (C*), and hue-angle (H*). The L*, a*, and b* color components of meat were measured on the surface and while the pH value were measured with an electrode that was placed into the loin and thigh muscles (m. longissimus dorsi and m. biceps femoris) 45 min, 3 h, 7 h, and 24 h after slaughter. The C* and H* values were calculated on the basis of a* and b*. In addition, the absolute and relative pH changes (ΔpHabs and ΔpHrel, respectively) were computed using the pH measurements. The a* and b* values of the loin muscle (m. longissimus dorsi) increased with time. The b* component displayed a shift from blue towards yellow, which resulted in the fluctuations of the values of L*, C*, and H*. The values of all color components (L*, a*, b*, C* and H*) of the thigh muscle (m. biceps femoris) increased with time, with the differences between the measurements made 45 min and 3 h after slaughter being insignificant. This suggests that the changes in meat color began not earlier than 3 h after slaughter and continued until 24 h. These changes, however, were not as dynamic as in the loin. The results show that the color of rabbit meat becomes stabilized 24 h after slaughter; therefore this is the minimum post-mortem time at which color evaluation should be performed. Rabbit meat had pH in the range corresponding with good quality meat. For both muscles, the pH value of meat did not differ significantly between the 7th and 24th hour after slaughter, indicating that the acidity of meat in this period of time was stable. The thigh muscle and the loin muscle exhibited similar absolute and relative changes in pH, which shows that the ageing of meat in various parts of the carcass was uniform.
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