As the world's local breeder, Hypor conducts meat quality studies through various world-renowned, international research institutes. Hypor is pleased to present this article by Luigi Faucitano of the Swine R&D centre in Quebec, Canada.

by Luigi Faucitano , Ph.D.
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
Dairy and Swine R & D Centre, Lennoxville, Quebec.

Recommended intramuscular fat (IMF) contents for acceptable palatability in pork range from 2 to 4% (Verbeke et al., 1999). Nevertheless, the role of intramuscular lipids with regard to the sensory and biophysical properties of pork is still the subject of much debate. As previously indicated in beef studies (Albrecht et al., 1996), differences in eating quality can be attributed to the fat distribution within the meat rather than the total fat content. Marbling distribution like other marbling characteristics can be studied using computer image analysis (CIA) that is a technique largely used in the food production industry. However, the attempts to evaluate the efficiency of CIA to assess marbling properties in pork are very scarce (Scholz et al., 1995; Murray, 1996).

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