October 23, 2010

US researchers develop instrument for determining pork marbling levels

US researchers have developed a new instrument grading system to differentiate pork loins relative to marbling levels, after a series of extended online testing.

Researchers at the Colorado State University and Ohio State University have long discovered that marbling in the pork loin significantly increases the juiciness and flavor of chops.

They also found a positive relationship between increased marbling levels and ultimate pH, a major industry standard for measuring pork quality.

Years of selection for lean hogs in the US have removed much of the intramuscular fat from the loin muscle, the fat that provides juiciness and flavor. Loss of natural pork flavor and juiciness has been replaced with salt solutions and flavor enhancers injected into the meat by processors.

"This new instrument, called BioQscan, has now been tested on more than 20,000 pork carcasses and has proven its ability to operate effectively at chain processing speeds exceeding 1,200 carcasses per hour," said Doyle Wilson, president of Biotronics.

Wilson said that within milliseconds of the BioQscan probe being placed on the skin of a pork carcass, the marbling level is known, allowing each carcass to be differentiated relative to its quality.

Biotronics has spent the last five years developing and perfecting this technology and is now gearing up for commercial production. An added benefit to the technology is its ability to accurately measure backfat depth and loin depth through noninvasive means, two important traits in the determination of pork carcass percent lean. Pork producers could receive added payment benefits for carcasses meeting minimum marbling specifications while maintaining high percent lean values.

Foreign buyers of pork loins from the US will be carefully watching this new pork loin grading technology. While many foreign buyers are satisfied with the majority of the pork they procure from the US, quality assessments are still rudimentary, with loins being visually sorted by loin color. Attempts at checking marbling levels are usually performed by visually inspecting the outside meat of skinned boneless loins.

The new BioQscan technology allows the packer to place an instrument graded marbling level on each loin, guaranteeing that it meets minimum levels of marbling. An adequate level of marbling usually guarantees that each pork chop will of better taste.