Raw meat is easy to identify, dead pork is purple, raw pork is bright red; Dead pork has no elasticity, and it can't be pressed back. Raw pork has good elasticity. The fat of dead pork is bloodshot and dark, and the fat of raw pork is shiny.

It's not easy to recognize when it's cooked. Especially after it is made into braised pork or braised pork, it is hard to see. Only those who know how to eat can see it. Most restaurants don't cook with dead pork. The sauce color of cooking can't cover up the bloodshot in fat meat, and it's easy for people to see that it's dead pork.

Your mother has a point. Fresh pork fried with shredded pork with fish flavor should be white. Pink is because the blood in the meat is not clean. But some chefs like to use red distiller's grains when curing meat, so that shredded pork will turn pink.