Image Processing Based Method for Characterization of the Fat/Meat Ratio and Fat Distribution of Pork and Beef Samples

The fat content (fat distribution) of the pork and beef raw material is one of their most important quality characteristics. Image processing methods were applied to provide with quantitative parameters related to these properties. Different hardware tools were tested to select the appropriate imaging alternative. Statistical analysis of the RGB data was performed in order to find appropriate classification function for segmentation. Discriminant analysis of the RGB data of selected image regions (fat-meat-background) resulted in a good segmentation of the fat regions. Classification function was applied on the RGB images of the samples to identify and measure the regions in question. The fat-meat ratio and textural parameters (entropy, contrast etc.) were determined. Comparison of the image parameters with the sensory evaluation results resulted in encouraging correlation. Key words: meat quality, marbling, image processing. 1