Evaluation of market value: comparison between different techniques applied on pork carcasses (short communication)

The market value of a carcass in the whole should be represented by the sum of values of all single cuts dissected from a carcass. These values of the single cuts are defined by their tissue composition and meat quality chara cteristics (pH, etc.)respectively. The fixing of market value at the slaugh ter line requires very quick methods that base on instrumental measurements and electronic data management. Nowadays four technically different types of instruments are available for the determination of market value in Germa ny. Following instrumental devices are compared and valuated. Opto-electron ic devices, Ultrasonic scanners, Autoform (SFK company, DK), The video imag ing system VCS 2000: These four technical systems presented in this study g ive equally good results in predicting the market value of pork carcass. It can state, that the fully automatic devices represent a new stage of devel opment. They are calculating the market value on a great number of measurem ents and in most aspects with a high reliability.