Measuring Meat Steaks, Fillets, and Patties Using the MiniScan EZ 45/0 LAV Follow

The color of meat may change slightly with age and consumers associate the correct color with freshness and quality. For example, tuna slightly reddens or blooms in storage, but this redness is transient. Consumers accept this natural redness and associate it with good quality tuna. Special treatment of the meat with carbon monoxide mimics this bloom effect, while stabilizing the flesh. Overtreatment, however, causes the redness to persist through the normal stages of decomposition and no longer acts as an indicator of quality and freshness. Measuring the color of the meat during treatment indicates when the process is complete versus overdone.

The Application

Meat portions have several non-uniform characteristics that require compensating preparation and presentation techniques in order to ensure a repeatable sample measurement. The sample surface is directional and irregular, requiring the averaging of severalreadings with replacement. Meat is moist, and care must be taken that moisture does not enter the instrument optics. A glass-covered port eliminates this problem.

Recommended Color Scale

CIE L*a*b* as a full color descriptor

Recommended Illuminant/Observer
D65/10°. C/2° may also be used.

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