A NEW TECHNIQUE FOR OBJECTIVE EVALUATION OF MARBLING IN BEEF

The recently developed technique for objective evaluation of marbling using automatic image analysis which is described here makes it possib le to measure image analysis parameters which represent essential char acteristics of the intramuscular fat deposits in meat. This permits de tailed comparisons of different samples which provide much more inform ation than the marbling points which have previously been established subjectively or the fat content determined by chemical means. As an in itial area of application, this technique was used to investigate the intramuscular fat deposits in samples of beef from different breeds of cattle.