Raman spectroscopy compared against traditional predictors of shear force in lamb m. longissimus lumborum

Predicting meat quality traits of ovine m. semimembranosus, both fresh and following freezing and thawing, using a hand held Raman spectroscopic device

“…The findings of Schmidt, Scheier, and Hopkins (2013) obtained correlation coefficients (R 2 ) for the prediction shear force (SF) values of lamb m. longissimus lumborum equal to 0.79 and 0.86 for samples from two measuring sites. But Fowler, Schmidt, van de Ven, Wynn, and Hopkins (2014a) found there was no ability to predict SF (R 2 cv = 0.06). Further research from Fowler, Schmidt, van de Ven, Wynn, and Hopkins (2014b) suggested that using Raman spectra yielded a more precise prediction of m. semimembranosus SF compared to indicators (12.9% and −1.5% reductions in RMSEP respectively).…”

“…Despite using the same RS hand held device on the same muscle, these aforementioned studies differ in regard to sample handling and experimental parameters. Fowler et al (2014a) measured fresh intact muscle for the first time whereas Schmidt et al (2013) measured muscle which had been frozen/thawed. As RS is sensitive to the changes associated with freezing and thawing (Herrero, 2008), Fowler et al (2014b) hypothesised that the measurement of fresh muscle may be responsible for the poorer prediction and longer accumulation times may improve the prediction accuracy and precision.…”

Prediction of intramuscular fat content and major fatty acid groups of lamb M. longissimus lumborum using Raman spectroscopy

“…The LL was randomly selected from carcases of different consignments of unknown origins and therefore unknown backgrounds, age, gender and diet, to represent the various animals typically processed by the abattoir, in order to obtain a spread in IMF levels and different FA compositions. The same carcases were used in the studies of Fowler, Schmidt, van de Ven, Wynn, and Hopkins (2014b) and Fowler, Schmidt, van de Ven, Wynn, and Hopkins (2014a). Sample weights of three LL portions were too small to provide adequate sample for the FA reference analysis, thus these samples were not further considered.…”

“…However, measuring adipose tissue in previous studies avoided the need to discriminate between meat and fat spectra to remove contributions from overlapping protein vibrations on the lipid signals which can arise when IMF is measured in-situ. With previous work using RS to predict shear force values of the medial and caudal portions of the same intact ovine longissimus lumborum muscles (Fowler et al, 2014a) the method to discriminate between lipid and protein spectra was already established. This was established using the hand held Raman device that had previously been developed to assess the quality of pork (Schmidt et al, 2009).…”

Optical Methods and Techniques for Meat Quality Inspection

“…A hand-held Raman-based optical instrument was used for measurement of shear force in lamb m. longissimus lumborum (Fowler et al, 2014a). A 671 nm laser source was used in the optical device to measure the shear force by correlating the Raman spectral signal with the value measured by traditional methods.…”