Predicting intramuscular fat in beef longissimus muscle from speed of sound.

: The ultrasonic A-mode method was investigated for intramuscular fat measurement of beef. Cubes of meat samples that had different marbling scores were used as specimens. Ultrasonic speed decreased with increasing fat concentration. The correlation coefficient was -.82 (P 8% fat) and 76.4% accuracy (< 8% fat), respectively (P < .001).