Services and Analysis provided
The Carcass and Meat Quality Laboratory at INIA-Tacuarembó provides the following analysis:
Controls at slaughter and fabrication stages: Records for liveweight, hot and chilled carcass weight, morphological measures of the carcass, subcutaneous fat thickness, rib eye area, weight of cuts, by trained personnel Sample transportation: From the packing plant to the Laboratory in INIA-Tacuarembó.
Ageing: In a chilling chamber at 2-4 oC for different period of time.
Tenderness: Measured using a Warner Bratzler (model 2000 D) device Determines in an objective way the shear force required in ripping apart the fibers in a sample of cooked meat. Each moment of determination (days of maturation) is considered an independent analysis
Water loss from cooking: Comes up as an additional result of the analysis for tenderness, by weight difference of the meat sample prior and after cooking.
Color of muscle and fat: Determines in an objective way the color of both tissues through readings in a colorimeter
(Minolta CR- 400): L* (degree of light refraction), a* (color variation between red and green) and b* (color variation between yellow and blue).
pH: Determines the acidity of the muscle.
Determine muscle-bone-fat relation: through total dissection of a cutting followed by measuring the weight of each one of the components mentioned.
Trained sensory panels: (In development stage) Sensorial profiles are generated which provide the characterization of a product in objective terms through the evaluation of its sensory attributes (texture, flavor, juiciness, strange odors, and tenderness). Tests are conducted by a panel of selected and trained tasters.
Studies of acceptability and preference by consumers: The objective of these studies is to know the opinion of consumers in relation to the degree of acceptability of the products. The tests are conducted by a panel of representative consumers (by age, sex, usual consumption of the product), under controlled conditions.
Fatty Acids: Determines, the content of intra-muscle fat in meat extracted by chemical methods and its composition in fatty acids, by gas chromatography.
