Search

The article reports on the effects of carcass fat quality in pork in the U.S. It states that fat quality is defined in terms of a carcass' physical, chemical and sensory characteristics which is measured by iodine value (IV). It notes that soft fat can decrease shelf life because of increased lipid oxidation rate that leads to rancidity. It adds that IV is the most common measurement for pork fat quality which measures the mass of iodine in grams absorbed by 100 grams of unsaturated fat.

The article presents a study which analyses the value of iodine in pork fat using Fourier transform-near infrared (FT-NIR) spectrometer. The study examined largely cut pork fat samples which are placed on a glass petri dish and were scanned over the NIR spectral range of 12,500-4,000 cm-1. Results reveal that FT-NIR can be applied by pork producers and meat processing plants for rapid feedback on the quality of pork fat and adjusting the dietary intake of the pig.