Intramuskulärer Fettgehalt von Schweinen : Bestimmung im M. longissimus mittels Ultraschallspektralanalyse

The eating quality of porcine meat is supposed to increase with raising intramuscular fat content (IMF). The aim of this study was to investigate the use of acoustic parameters obtained by spectral analysis of ultrasound echo signals to non-destructively predict intramuscular fat content of porcine longissimus muscle. Ultrasound data acquisition was performed at slaughter with a clinical B-mode device at 115 warm carcasses. Acoustic parameters quantifying attenuation, backscattering and cepstral structure were calculated off-line from the recorded primary ultrasound echo signals. The IMF content could be predicted with mean standard error of prediction of 0.36% IMF, and the ultrasound parameters were able to correctly classify nearly 80% of the carcasses into HIGH and LOW level fat class, respectively.