An objective and reliable method for meat quality measurement will benefit both consumers and meat industry. Among various techniques, optical methods have the advantage of being fast, flexible, inexpensive and nondestructive, which are important characteristics for online quality control. Although there have been great progress in this area, many results are inconsistent and controversial because of the lack of fundamental understanding of in light-meat interactions. Optical measurements on meat tissues are affected by both meat scattering and absorption properties. In the project, a method based on diffuse approximation solution of light transport in tissue was used to derive meat scattering and absorption coefficients. Differentiating muscle scattering properties from absorption properties are important for muscle characterization because they represent distinctly different aspects of muscle physical and chemical components. Our preliminary results showed that scattering coefficients can detect variations in beef steak tenderness. This new technique is promising to be used as an indicator for beef tenderness. However, a more extensive study with larger sample population will be necessary to fully test the capability of using optical scattering for beef tenderness characterization.

Date Published: 8 November 2005
PDF: 8 pages
Proc. SPIE 5996, Optical Sensors and Sensing Systems for Natural Resources and Food Safety and Quality, 599613 (8 November 2005); doi: 10.1117/12.629640

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 5996:
Optical Sensors and Sensing Systems for Natural Resources and Food Safety and Quality
Yud-Ren Chen; George E. Meyer; Shu-I Tu, Editor(s)