A plug sampling technique for measuring the pH of carcass muscles

Area of Science:

• Meat science
• Animal science
• Agricultural engineering

Background:

• Accurate assessment of meat quality, specifically ultimate pH, is crucial in the sheep industry.
• Traditional methods for obtaining muscle samples can be invasive and may compromise carcass integrity.
• Existing pH measurement techniques may lack precision or practicality for routine carcass evaluation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a modified surgical biopsy instrument for obtaining muscle samples from the M. longissimus dorsi in sheep.
• To assess the accuracy of this new method for determining the ultimate pH of sheep muscle.
• To compare the advantages of this technique against direct probe methods for pH measurement.

Main Methods:

• Development of a modified surgical biopsy instrument designed for minimal carcass mutilation.
• Collection of approximately 2 g muscle samples from the M. longissimus dorsi of sheep carcasses.
• Incubation of samples in liquid paraffin for 24 hours at approximately 20°C.
• Measurement of pH values after homogenisation in iodoacetate solution.

Main Results:

• The developed instrument successfully obtained muscle samples without mutilating the sheep carcasses.
• pH values measured using the homogenized samples accurately reflected the ultimate pH of the muscle.
• The paraffin-incubated sample method demonstrated reliability in determining muscle pH.

Conclusions:

• The modified surgical biopsy instrument provides a non-mutilating method for obtaining sheep muscle samples.
• This technique offers an accurate and advantageous alternative to direct probe methods for ultimate pH determination in sheep carcasses.
• The developed method enhances carcass evaluation protocols in the meat industry.