Identification of meat types by ultrasonic methods

The ability of identification of meat types using ultrasonic measurement was evaluated in this work. Four types of muscles were analyzed (turkey breast and thigh, and pork loin and ham). Ultrasonic measurements were performed at storage (5 ±1oC) and room (20±1oC) temperatures using the through-transmission technique and differential method of determination of sound velocity and the attenuation coefficient. The mean values of sound velocity for the breast, thigh, loin and ham were respectively: 1550.7, 1536.6, 1558.7, 1559.7 m/s at the storage temperature, and 1582.7, 1578.5, 1596.9, 1592.7 m/s at the room temperature. The mean values of the attenuation coefficient in the same order were: 21.3, 23.2, 30.6, 28.1 m-1 and 22.2, 18.9, 22.0, 22.4 m-1. Statistically significant differences in the sound velocity were observed between pork and turkey muscles, therefore, the meat of those species can be identified based on ultrasound measurements of sound velocity. The attenuation coefficient cannot be applied in the identification of meat types due to absence of significant differences in the mean values.