My non-meat-eater friends may want to skip this post. But the rest of us carnivores will be pleased by this new discovery.

It turns out that those LEDS that are popping up at supermarket display cases don’t just bathe your food products in a crisp, energy-saving glow. They also extend the shelf life of some meats!

According to researchers at Kansas State University led by a recent masters graduate, Kyle Steele, LEDs help reduce discoloration in meat products, improving sales and thereby reducing waste and spoilage.

For the study, they looked at pork loin chops, beef loin steaks, ground beef, ground turkey and beef inside round steaks — pretty popular meat products as  U.S. eating habits go.  Then they checked for discoloration and rancidity vs. typical fluorescent lights. Plus, they also factored in operating efficiency — measuring how often the refrigeration unit had to kick in and for how long.

Here are their findings:

The researchers found that LED lights scored positively in nearly all areas. Most significantly, LED lights helped reduce operating costs and prolonged the shelf life for most of the meat products.

“Most meat products displayed under LED lighting had colder internal product temperatures, which helps extend product shelf life,” Steele said. “Beef loin steaks and inside round steaks that were stored under LED lights can have up to one day longer shelf life.”

Among operational costs, LED lights had fewer cycles per running hour, meaning they were a more efficient and cost-saving light source than fluorescent lights.

Cool. Oh, and go meat!

[via Food Product Design]

Image credit: Flickr user PR® – CC