The use of visible and near infrared reflectance spectroscopy to predict beef M. longissimus thoracis et lumborum quality attributes

Visible and near infrared reflectance spectroscopy was used to predict pH at 24 hours(pH 24 ) post-mortem, sarcomere length (SL), cooking loss (CL), Warner-Bratzler shear force (WBSF) and colour parameters (L*, a*, b*) in beef cattle samples. Samples from M. longissimus thoracis et lumborum from 30 bulls were aged at 4º C for 1, 3, 7 and 14 days and analysed for pH, SL, CL, WBSF and colour. NIRS calibrations for pH 24,luminosity at 0 (L*t 0 ) and 60 minutes (L*t 60 ) showed good predictability (R 2 = 0.97, 0.85 and 0.82; SECV = 0.10, 1.16, 1.36, respectively), whereas those related to the rest of the parameters were poorer but the values for WBSF (R 2 =0.65) could be considered useful. These results indicate that calibration, being a dynamic process, will lead to the improvement of the models, by increasing and diversifying the population, to develop the technical precision of NIRS for meat quality evaluatio