Non-destructive determination of the intramuscular fat content in pork chops by ultrasound

Abstract

The presented study aimed to investigate the use of spectral analysis of backscattered ultrasound signals from a diagnostic B-mode device to non destructively estimate the intramuscular fat content (IMF) in the longissimus muscle in pigs. Ultrasound data acquisition was performed on 115 commercially produced carcass sides from the same genetic origin at the 2nd/3rd last rib parallel and perpendicular to the muscle fiber direction of the longissimus muscle. The measurements were carried out on both carcasses still warm from slaughtering and on chilled, complete sides/on the pure pork filet (i.e. without back fat). As for the estimation of intramuscular fat content by means of spectral analysis of backscattered ultrasound signals, an average prediction error of 0.36% IMF arises at best using averaged parameters from replicated measurements parallel and perpedicular to the muscle fiber direction at warm carcasses. Thus, about 60% of the variation of IMF can be explained by the acoustic parameters.