Device used to measure tension
Tuesday’s lectures were very informing on meat quality and how meat quality is measured. The steps were checking color, tension, water holding capacity, and water loss. According to Dr. Lambert, the US checks meat quality in similar ways as Poland. After lecture, we got to go into the lab and do some of the procedures to check meat quality. First, we checked tension with a machine that cuts core samples that was taken from a piece of meat. We used a piece of pork. The machine cut the core and the computer would show how much force it took to cut through the meat. This told us how tender the meat was and more tender means better quality. The next thing we measured was color. We first checked the color by sight. We did this by comparing the meat to a color chart. Once we chose a color for each sample, we checked the color with a device that checks the lightness of the meat. We ended up being correct on most of the colors. Once we finished in the lab, we went to another building for the last lecture of the day about meat quality.