Evaluation of invasive instruments for assessment of veal colour at time of classification

In a random selection of 480 veal carcasses, invasive measurements were made on the longissimus lumborum (LL) and biceps femoris (BF) with the Colormet, Hennessy Grading Probe (HGP4; LL only) and Invasive Meat Colour Meter. Surface colour of the rectus abdominis (RA) was determined instrumentally with the Minolta Chromameter and Surface Meat Colour Meter and visually by two persons, using a colour standard. All measurements were made at 30-40 min post mortem. Of the measurements made on the RA, the Surface Meat Colour Meter was best related to both visual judgements (r = -0·79; -0·73). The correlation coefficient between both visual judgements was 0·77. Clear differences were found between the invasive instruments in their ability to determine veal colour. The correlation coefficients between the invasive measurements and both visual judgements varied for the Colormet L (∗)-value from -0·18 to -0·35, for the HGP4 from -0·40 to -0·49, and for the Invasive Meat Colour Meter from -0·69 to -0·74. Both for LL and BF the best relationships were found between the Invasive Meat Colour Meter and the Surface Meat Colour Meter (RA).