Assessment of porcine fat quality by fiber-optic spectrophotometry

Irie, M.; Swatland, H. J.

doi:1992.5.4.753

Article

Animal Products

Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences 1992;5(4): 753-756.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5713/ajas.1992.753 Published online December 1, 1992.

Assessment of porcine fat quality by fiber-optic spectrophotometry

M. Irie, H. J. Swatland

Abstract

Research was undertaken to determine if relectance (interactance) measured with a portable fiver optic probe (Colormet) can be used to assess porcine fat quality. Soft fat generally had lower interactance than hard fat, p<0.05 from 400 to 700 nm, although interactance spectra of hard and soft fat were similar in shape. At 4째C, interactance from 450 nm to 700 nm at the inner layer of bacfat was correlated (p<0.01) with subjective soft fat score (r = 0.06 to 0.70), and with the refractive index (r = -0.62 to -0.65) and melting point (r = 0.59 to 0.60) of heat-extracted lipid. Colormet interactance L* at 4째C was correlated (p<0.01) with soft fat score (r = 0.72), refractive index (r = -0.66) and melting point (r = 0.61). Interactance decreased as the temperature of the fat was increased from 22 to 44째C (p<0.01). Soft fat had lower interactance than fats that were slightly soft, slightly hard and hard at 4, 22 and 40 째C, although softness and temperature may interact to affect interactance. These results indicate that soft porcine fat may be detected easily by fiber-optic spectrophotometry.

Keywords: Fat; Pork; Spectrophotometry; Softness