Determination of lean meat in pig carcasses with the Autofom classification system

A fully automatic classification equipment called Autofom for use at pig ab attoirs has been developed and tested. It measures fat and meat depth in ca rcasses by use of ultrasound. Measurement with Autofom is very fast (measur ing up to 1250 carcasses per hour). It is non-invasive and low maintenance costs can be expected due to lack of moving parts. The repeatability and re producibility have been estimated. An equation for calculating lean meat pe rcentage on the basis of Autofom measurements has been calculated. The accu racy of the equation, expressed by residual mean square error and by standa rd error of prediction, is 1.84 and 1.95, respectively. A functionality tes t shows that, when installed on-line at the abattoir, 99% of the carcasses can be classified by Autofom. The equipment will be a suitable alternative to automatic on-line determination of lean meat percentage in pig carcasses . (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.