Measurement of colour
There is considerable variation in the perception of colour acceptability of lamb carcasses
and cuts by meat industry personnel (Hopkins, 1995) and consumers when assessing cuts
(Hopkins, 1996). It is common for meat industry personnel to use external surfaces of the
carcass to make judgements about meat colour acceptability for lamb, whereas a cut surface
is usually examined on beef carcasses. Data obtained in experiment 4 indicate chromameter
measurements taken on external carcass sites are poorly correlated to the meat
colour of the cut surface of the M. longissimus thoracis et lumborum. Consequently,
ranking of intact lamb carcasses on the basis of external surface assessment or measurement
will be unreliable as a method of predicting the colour of cuts.