Ultrasound parameters used to characterize Iberian fresh pork loins of different feeding systems

Abstract

The objective of this work was to characterize different commercial categories of pork loin non-destructively by inspection using low-intensity ultrasound at different frequencies. To this end, such ultrasound parameters as the ultrasound pulse velocity (UPV) and variables related to the attenuation and to the frequency components obtained from the fast Fourier transform (FFT) were considered. The acoustic parameters and those obtained using traditional instrumental analyses (physicochemical and texture) were subjected to a Pearson correlation analysis. Several ultrasound parameters allowed the two categories explored to be distinguished. Also, the acoustic determinations yielded many significant correlations with the rest of the parameters studied. The results show that ultrasound can be postulated as an instrument for characterizing and distinguishing samples of different categories of loin, and that it has a promising predictive character.