• Between June 2003 when the first dissection trial for calibration of FOM
took place and April 2007, the average lean meat percentage in
Romania increased from 50.7% (calculated on a sample of 125 carcasses)
to 55.0% (data recorded in the database of the Romanian Carcasses
Classification Commission (CCC)). EU legislation does not
stipulate any recommendations regarding the time period after which
a classification device must be recalibrated. However, changes in the
pig population (e.g., changes in the proportion of pigs in subpopulations,
changes in the conformation of the pigs due to selection)may affect
the accuracy of a prediction equation (Causeur et al., 2003; Font I
Furnols, Engel, & Gispert, 2004).