Assessment of meat fat content using dual energy X-ray absorption

Fat content is an essential component of meat quality. Fat content and fatty tissue content were determined by dual energy X-ray absorption on 3 types of meat: pork meat (mixture of longissimus dorsi and fat) and beef meat (longissimus dorsi and pectoralis profondus). The measurements were carried out with a medical densitometer, the SOPHOS L-XRA usually used for osteodensitometry. The results from the dual energy X-ray absorption and the chemical analysis were compared and the correlations were good to very good (R(2) values from 0.7 to 0.97). The residual standard deviations were in the range 2.75-4.89%. The routine use of dual energy X-ray absorption would though suppose a previous calibration.