Objective Color Measurements Research Articles

Update on tooth color measurement by visual and spectrophotometer methods

Introduction: Tooth colour assessment is a crucial aspect in aesthetic dentistry, as it influences the design of restorative and aesthetic treatments. There are various methods for assessing tooth colour, the most common being the visual method and the use of spectrophotometers. Each has advantages and disadvantages that can affect the accuracy and reproducibility of the results.Development: The visual method consists of comparing tooth colour with standardised shade guides. This approach is accessible and easy to implement, but its subjectivity can lead to variations in colour perception between different operators. Factors such as lighting, visual fatigue and environmental conditions can influence the assessment, compromising the consistency of the results. On the other hand, the spectrophotometer offers an objective measurement of tooth colour by quantifying the light reflected by the teeth at different wavelengths. This method provides accurate and repeatable data, eliminating the subjectivity of the visual method. However, its cost and the need for technical training can be limitations in its widespread use.Conclusions: Both methods have a significant role in tooth color assessment. While the visual method is more accessible and practical in clinical settings, the spectrophotometer offers superior accuracy and objectivity. The choice between the two will depend on the specific treatment needs and available resources. For optimal results, it is suggested to consider a combined approach that takes advantage of the strengths of each method.

Comparison of tooth shade determination using two methods: visual and spectrophotometric

Introduction: Dental color determination is a crucial procedure in oral rehabilitation treatments, since with precision, aesthetically correct results will be achieved that fit the naturalness of the patient's teeth. Thanks to technological advances, new tools have emerged, such as spectrophotometers, intraoral scanners, among others, which have significantly improved the way of carrying out this process.Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of dental color determination with the visual method compared to the spectrophotometer.Methods: A descriptive and documentary study was carried out following a systematic bibliographic search of articles in the last 10 years, which were selected according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria.Results: The study compared the effectiveness of two methods to determine the color of teeth: visual and instrumental (with a spectrophotometer). The visual method, although traditional, presents high variability due to factors such as lighting, the observer's experience and the individual perception of color. The spectrophotometer offers a more objective and reproducible measurement of color, as it is not influenced by external factors. Although both methods can achieve similar results in some cases, significant differences were generally observed in the selection of the dental shade. The spectrophotometer allows for the detection of more subtle color differences and offers greater consistency in the results.Conclusion: Dental shade measurement is more effective with a spectrophotometer, however, the authors recommend using the two methodologies together.

FilletCam AI: A handheld tool for precise fillet color profiling of Atlantic salmon and rainbow trout

High-throughput and objective color measurements of fish fillets are crucial for quality control and establishing pricing benchmarks. While fillet color scoring traditionally relies on subjective visual inspection using color reference cards or labor-intensive color measurement using a colorimeter, this study aims to develop a smart handheld device (FilletCam AI, hereafter referred to as ‘FilletCam’) for precise and rapid profiling of fish fillet color. FilletCam comprises an imaging sensor integrated with an embedded computing unit for image acquisition. A graphical user interface (GUI) was developed to streamline data collection, analysis, visualization, compilation, and data sharing with authorized users. An Artificial Intelligence (AI) model was developed and deployed on the edge for region-of-interest (ROI) detection. A single-stage YOLOv8 model was trained on a custom image dataset comprised of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) and rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) fillet images to detect the fillet and color palette with their respective SalmonFan™ (SF) score on the reference card. Delta E metric was adopted to compare the color of the fillet and reference color shades on the SF card. The SF score corresponding to the lowest Delta E value was assigned to the fillet. The object detection model performed well and achieved a mean average precision (mAP0.5) of 99.5 % and an F1 score of 0.99. The FilletCam-predicted fillet color scores were compared with the expert ratings and colorimeter scores to evaluate the performance of the developed tool. The minimum Delta E values for FilletCam were consistently lower than those for the colorimeter, indicating FilletCam's ability to detect minor color differences accurately. FilletCam exactly predicted the color scores at 73 % of instances compared to 30 % of instances for the colorimeter. Additionally, for only 3 % of instances, the predicted SF score deviated by more than two points. Overall, the developed research prototype shows promise as a valuable digital tool for the fish processing and retail industries.

Effect of Electrostatic Field Assisted Thawing on the Quality of Previously Frozen Beef Striploins

The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of applying electrostatic field (EF)–assisted thawing on the quality attributes of previously frozen beef striploin. Beef striploins from both sides of 12 USDA Choice carcasses were halved, frozen at −40°C, and thawed under 4 EF voltage treatments: 0 kV (control), 2.5 kV, 5 kV, and 10 kV. After reaching the internal temperature of −1°C, striploins were weighed for yield calculation, swabbed for microbial analysis, fabricated into steaks, and assigned to either 0- or 14-d aging period and retail displayed for 0 or 7 d. Subjective and objective color measurements were taken during the retail display. Upon completion of retail display, Warner-Bratzler shear force (WBSF), cook loss, sarcomere length, troponin-T degradation, muscle fiber spacing, lipid oxidation, antioxidant capacity, pH, and proximate analysis were performed. All EF treatments increased purge loss compared to the control (P<0.05) and did not improve thawing speed, with samples from 10 kV actually taking the longest to thaw (P<0.05). The 2.5 kV and 5 kV samples aged 14 d showed less discoloration than those from 0 kV and 10 kV, and 5 kV samples aged 14 d had higher a* than those from the other treatments (P<0.05). Samples thawed under 10 kV showed a reduction in WBSF compared to the control (P<0.05), but there was no impact of EF on aerobic plate count, sarcomere length, troponin-T degradation,relative fat %, crude protein %, moisture %, purge protein concentration, pH, lipid oxidation, or antioxidant capacity for either the hydrophilic (water soluble) and lipophilic (lipid soluble) portion of the samples (P>0.05). Overall, our study determined that there was no economic benefit to apply EF during thawing regarding yield and purge loss. However, the application of EF may improve tenderness and extend shelf life of beef during retail display.

Effects of broiler chilling methods on the occurrence of pale, soft, exudative (PSE) meat and comparison of detection methods for PSE meat using traditional and Nix colorimeters

The aims of this study were to i) estimate the occurrence of pale, soft, and exudative (PSE) meat in modern commercial Ontario broiler flocks, ii) determine the effects of the chilling method (water vs. air) on PSE meat, and iii) investigate a new inexpensive colorimeter (10% of the price of traditional color meters), the Nix Color Sensor, as an objective color measurement of chicken meat. Between June 2019 to March 2020, a total of 17 different broiler flocks were processed. The color of 1,700 boneless skinless Pectoralis major muscles was randomly measured (100/flock), where 255 samples were also measured for pH, water-holding capacity (WHC), cooking loss, and penetration force. In addition, a traditional Minolta colorimeter was used to measure random 95 samples from a single water-chilled flock and subsequently compared the values obtained with the Nix Color Sensor. Strong correlations of L* values (rho=0.75; P < 0.001), a* values (rho=0.72; P < 0.001), and b* values (rho=0.80; P < 0.001) were observed. When an L* value of 43 was used as the cut-off for the Nix, 12.5% of fillets were classified as PSE meat. Statistical differences (P < 0.05) were observed between the air and water-chill methods for L*, pH, and WHC. However, there were no significant differences observed between the 2 methods for cooking loss and penetration force values. The study indicated that PSE meat is still a challenge in Ontario broilers, and that the L*, pH, and WHC of breast meat (all indicate meat quality) are affected by the chilling method. In addition, the Nix was found to be an affordable, objective, and convenient sensor for measuring chicken meat color.

Evaluation of growth, meat quality, and sensory characteristics of wool, hair, and composite lambs.

The objectives of this study were to evaluate the growth rates, carcass quality, shelf-life, tenderness, sensory characteristics, volatile compounds, and fatty acid composition of wool, hair, and composite (wool × hair) lambs. Twenty-one wether lambs [wool (Suffolk × Polypay/Targhee; n = 7), hair (Dorper × Dorper; n = 7), and composite (Dorper × Polypay/Targhee; n = 7)] were fed from weaning to finishing at the University of Idaho Sheep Center and subsequently harvested under United States Department of Agriculture inspection at the University of Idaho Meat Lab. At 48 h postmortem, carcass measurements were taken to determine the percent boneless closely trimmed retail cuts, yield grade, and quality grade. Loins were fabricated from each carcass and wet-aged at 0°C until 10-d postmortem. Following aging, 2.54-cm bone-in loin chops were cut and randomly assigned to 4 d of retail display, Warner-Bratzler Shear Force (WBSF), or sensory analyses. Thiobarbituric acid reactive substances were analyzed on days 0 and 4 of retail display while subjective and objective color measurements were observed once daily. Samples (24 g) were also collected for volatile compound and fatty acid analysis. A mixed model analysis of variance was used to assess breed differences. Discernable effects were considered at P < 0.05. Wool lambs had heavier hot carcass weights (P < 0.001), larger rib-eye area (P = 0.015), and higher dressing percent (P < 0.001) than the other breeds. There was an interaction observed between breed and days of retail display for browning (P = 0.006). On day 1 chops from the composite breed had more browning than chops from the wool breed. No differences were observed between groups for lean muscle L* values (P = 0.432), a* values (P = 0.757), and b* values (P = 0.615). Differences were not observed in lipid oxidation (P = 0.159), WBSF (P = 0.540), or consumer acceptability (P = 0.295). There were differences found for 7 of the 45 fatty acids detected and in 3 of the 67 volatile compounds detected. In conclusion, wool lambs were heavier and had a greater carcass yield than the hair lamb carcasses. Regardless of breed, consumers did not detect sensory traits that would impact their eating experience.

Does cryptic dichromatism exist in the Saffron Finch (Sicalis flaveola)? Colorimetric variables and the avian visual model

Sexual dichromatism, a particular type of sexual dimorphism, occurs in several species and has been associated with sexual selection. In some cases, the differences are so small that they are imperceptible to humans, but possibly detected by birds. The objective measurement of color with spectrophotometers and detailed analyses according to the perception ability of the avian eye have revealed that some species that were once considered to be monochromatic, are in fact dichromatic and able to perceive these differences. In the tropics, the Saffron Finch (Sicalis flaveola) does not present marked sexual dimorphism in coloration, which makes studies in behavioral ecology, natural history and population dynamics difficult. To assess whether there is dichromatism in the species, the reflectance (between 300 and 700 ​nm) of ten body regions was measured in 196 wild adults in Cali-Colombia. Sex was determined using the CHD1 gene on the sex chromosomes. Reflectance spectra were analyzed using: colorimetric variables and the avian visual model. We found that reflectance shows a bimodal curve in all body regions, except the crown. Males presented higher reflectance at long wavelengths, while for females this occurred in ultraviolet wavelengths. For the visual model, we found that there are significant intrasexual differences; however only in crown coloration is there a possible perceived difference between sexes. We conclude that in the Saffron Finch there are color differences between the sexes in all regions considering the physical phenomenon (reflectance), but in general, when evaluating color perception (avian visual model), there are no differences between the sexes in most of the body regions. The intrasexual differences are significant, indicating the possibility of these being signals that influence social interactions in the species.

Color Change after 25% Hydrogen Peroxide Bleaching with Photoactivation: A Methodological Assessment Using Spectrophotometer versus Digital Photographs.

This study aimed to evaluate the color change of teeth bleached with light activation using two different objective color measurement approaches after two years of clinical follow-up. A cross-sectional retrospective clinical study according to STROBE was followed including 30 participants. The 25% hydrogen peroxide gel (Philips Zoom) was applied with a supplementary LED light for 15 min in four cycles. Tooth color was assessed based on CIEL*a*b* values using a spectrophotometer (Spectroshade) at different time points (baseline, post bleaching, 1 week, 1 year, and 2 years). Standardized digital photographs were taken at each time point. The L*, a*, and b* values were measured from the digital photographs using Adobe Photoshop software. The color difference (ΔE) was separately calculated using the L*, a*, and b* values obtained with spectrophotometric and photographic analyses at each evaluation time. Data were analyzed with non-parametric tests (p < 0.05). A color regression was detected by both measurement approaches after 1 and 2 years (p < 0.05). Greater ΔE values were acquired with the spectrophotometer compared to the digital photographic analysis (p < 0.05). Although a greater color change was observed with the spectrophotometer, both approaches were able to detect the color rebound using the 25% hydrogen peroxide light-activated in-office system. Digital photographic analysis might therefore be used to assess color change after bleaching.

Clinical Evaluation of the Efficacy of 10% Carbamide Peroxide Bleaching Agent Used During Night-Time and Day-Time

This split-arch clinical study was performed to compare the effects of using 10% carbamide peroxide bleaching agent for one hour twice a day with its use for 8 hours/night on tooth color change, color stability and sensitivity. Method: Bleaching trays, with reservoirs for the six maxillary anterior teeth, were fabricated for 12 volunteers. The trays were cut into two halves between the left and right central incisors (day-side vs. night-side) to be used with 10% carbamide peroxide for two weeks. The day-side tray was applied for one hour twice a day, while the night-side was applied for 8 hours overnight. Objective color measurements, using a colorimeter, were adopted to measure the color of the teeth of the two sides at the baseline appointment and at 1, 2, 3, 6 and 12 weeks. Total color difference (ΔE*) between two color measurements was calculated for all periods. Teeth and soft-tissue sensitivity were self-recorded for both sides during the bleaching weeks and the following week. Both Student's t-test and Tukey's test were used to compare ΔE* between the two sides and with time at p

Effects of Rosemary and Green Tea Antioxidants on Ground Beef Patties in Traditional and Modified Atmosphere Packaging

The objective of this study was to analyze the effects of rosemary (RSM) and green tea (GT) added to groundbeef to extend shelf life. Four antioxidant treatments were used: control, 2,500 ppm RSM, 300 ppm GT, and 2,500 ppm RSM + 300 ppm GT (RSM + GT). Patties from each treatment (n = 42) were randomly packaged into one of 3 types: polyvinyl chloride (PVC) overwrap, modified atmospheric packaging (MAP), or master packages (MP). Packages of MAP and MP were flushed with 0.4% CO, 69.6% nitrogen (N2), and 30% carbon dioxide (CO2). Patties in PVC and MAP were placed directly into display cases for 7 d, and MP patties were placed in dark storage for 7 d and then in display cases for another 7 d. Instrumental and subjective color, lipid oxidation, and sensory panel scores were measured. In MAP, patties with GT had increased (P &amp;lt; 0.05) a* and chroma values by day 6 of retail display. In MP at 3 d of retail display, GT patties exhibited increased (P &amp;lt; 0.05) L* values (lighter), display color (deeper red), and surface discoloration (greater discoloration) scores compared with RSM + GT patties. However, GT and RSM patties were not different (P &amp;gt; 0.05) for these parameters. Trained sensory panelists did not detect a difference between control and GT patties for the green-hay attribute; however, RSM patties had highly detectable (P &amp;lt; 0.05) green-hay flavor. Panelists were unable to detect any differences (P &amp;gt; 0.05) for rancid or fatty flavors regardless of treatment. Patties in MAP were more color stable than those in PVC after 6 d of retail display. In conclusion, patties in MP with GT showed positive instrumental and objective color measurements, as well as lipid oxidation values after 3 d of display, combined with undetectable flavor, warranting further research.

Tenderness and Color Stability of Beef Longissimus Thoracis and Semimembranosus Steaks From Carcasses With Varying Hot Carcass Weights

Our objectives were to determine how beef hot carcass weights relate to temperature and pH decline, Warner-Bratzler shear force, and objective color of steaks from the longissimus thoracis and semimembranosus. Beef carcasses (N = 59) were selected at a commercial plant based on hot carcass weight and separated into either light- (&amp;lt; 363 kg), medium- (364–407 kg), or heavy-weight (&amp;gt; 408 kg) groups. Temperature and pH in the longissimus thoracis and semi-membranosus muscle were measured for 24 h. After carcasses were chilled for approximately 24 h, ribeye area, 12th rib backfat, kidney, pelvic, and heart fat percentage, marbling score, and USDA final yield grade were collected. Ribeye rolls (Institutional Meat Purchase Specification 112a) and inside rounds (Institutional Meat Purchase Specification 160a) were collected at the plant and transported to the North Dakota State University Meat Laboratory. Data were analyzed using the mixed procedure of SAS version 9.4 (SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC) with carcass weight class as the fixed effect and day of collection as random. Longissimus thoracis muscle temperature of light-weight carcasses was lower at 4 h compared with heavy-weight carcasses (P = 0.02). Semimembranosus muscle temperature of light- and medium-weight carcasses was lower at 24 h compared with heavy-weight carcasses (P &amp;lt; 0.0001). There were no differences in pH decline (P ≥ 0.16) among carcass weight groups. There were no differences in fat thickness; kidney, pelvic, and heart fat percentage; or marbling score (P ≥ 0.12) among carcass groups. There were no differences in drip loss, cook loss, or Warner-Bratzler shear force in either longissimus thoracis or semimembranosus muscles (P ≥ 0.10) among carcass groups. Objective color measurements found that steaks from heavy-weight carcasses were redder than steaks from light-weight carcasses (P ≤ 0.02). Hot carcass weight group did not influence most meat quality attributes of steaks with the possible exception of color.

Modeling host-microbiome interactions for the prediction of meat quality and carcass composition traits in swine

BackgroundThe objectives of this study were to evaluate genomic and microbial predictions of phenotypes for meat quality and carcass traits in swine, and to evaluate the contribution of host-microbiome interactions to the prediction. Data were collected from Duroc-sired three-way crossbred individuals (n = 1123) that were genotyped with a 60 k SNP chip. Phenotypic information and fecal 16S rRNA microbial sequences at three stages of growth (Wean, Mid-test, and Off-test) were available for all these individuals. We used fourfold cross-validation with animals grouped based on sire relatedness. Five models with three sets of predictors (full, informatively reduced, and randomly reduced) were evaluated. ‘Full’ included information from all genetic markers and all operational taxonomic units (OTU), while ‘informatively reduced’ and ‘randomly reduced’ represented a reduced number of markers and OTU based on significance preselection and random sampling, respectively. The baseline model included the fixed effects of dam line, sex and contemporary group and the random effect of pen. The other four models were constructed by including only genomic information, only microbiome information, both genomic and microbiome information, and microbiome and genomic information and their interaction.ResultsInclusion of microbiome information increased predictive ability of phenotype for most traits, in particular when microbiome information collected at a later growth stage was used. Inclusion of microbiome information resulted in higher accuracies and lower mean squared errors for fat-related traits (fat depth, belly weight, intramuscular fat and subjective marbling), objective color measures (Minolta a*, Minolta b* and Minolta L*) and carcass daily gain. Informative selection of markers increased predictive ability but decreasing the number of informatively reduced OTU did not improve model performance. The proportion of variation explained by the host-genome-by-microbiome interaction was highest for fat depth (~ 20% at Mid-test and Off-test) and shearing force (~ 20% consistently at Wean, Mid-test and Off-test), although the inclusion of the interaction term did not increase the accuracy of predictions significantly.ConclusionsThis study provides novel insight on the use of microbiome information for the phenotypic prediction of meat quality and carcass traits in swine. Inclusion of microbiome information in the model improved predictive ability of phenotypes for fat deposition and color traits whereas including a genome-by-microbiome term did not improve prediction accuracy significantly.

Fresh Beef Quality from Cattle Fed Field Peas During Pasture and Finishing Phases of Production

This study evaluated the use of field peas during two phases of production on fresh beef quality. Cattle (n = 232) were assigned to one of six dietary treatments in a 3x2 factorial design consisting of 3 pasture and 2 finishing supplementations. The pasture phase consisted of 1) no supplement, 2) field peas at 0.5% body weight (BW), or 3) dry-rolled corn supplement at 0.5% BW. The finishing phase consisted of 1) no field peas or 2) field peas at 20% dry-matter basis. Strip loin samples, aged 14 d, were subjected to retail display (RD) for an additional 7 d. Tenderness via Warner-Bratzler shear force (WBSF) and Slice Shear force (SSF), objective (L*, a*, and b*) and subjective color, lipid oxidation (TBARS) and fatty acid composition were evaluated. Dietary treatment had no effect on tenderness. Steak discoloration was low (&amp;lt; 3%). All objective color measurements displayed interactions between pasture and finishing diets (L*, P = 0.0035; a*, P = 0.0189; b*, P &amp;lt; 0.0001) yet no consistent patterns among treatments could be identified. Extended aging periods would be required to visually influence consumer color perception. Beef finished with field peas had slightly greater lipid oxidation than samples from cattle not receiving field peas during finishing (1.56 vs. 1.44 mg malonaldehyde/kg tissue, respectively; P = 0.0541). There was a significant interaction between pasture and finishing treatments for C15:1 (P = 0.0331). Feeding field peas during the pasture phase increased C 18:2 (P = 0.0381) relative to cattle supplemented with corn; cattle without supplement in the pasture phase had intermediate amounts of C18:2. Total saturated, unsaturated, monounsaturated, and polyunsaturated fatty acids (P &amp;gt; 0.05) were unaffected by dietary treatments. Field peas may be used for cattle with minimal negative impact on fresh meat quality.

Skin coloration as a possible non-invasive marker for skewed sex ratios and gonadal abnormalities in immature common toads (Bufo bufo)

Abstract Environmental pollution and climate change can bias the sex ratios of animal populations in which sexual development is sensitive to environmental contaminants and temperature. Investigating these effects in field studies and ecotoxicological experiments is important but difficult when males and females cannot be distinguished without sacrificing them or applying expensive, specialized sexing methods. In this study, we examined the utility of skin coloration as a non-invasive sex marker in juvenile common toads (Bufo bufo) that appear sexually monomorphic. We raised toadlets from eggs in the lab, and exposed them during larval development to one of six treatments: two concentrations of two endocrine disruptor chemicals each (a glyphosate-based herbicide and 17α-ethinylestradiol, a contraceptive) and two controls. Before the first hibernation, we took a photograph of each toadlet’s back, then sexed them by inspecting their gonads, and measured the hue, saturation and brightness of their dorsal skin coloration from the photographs. We found significant sexual dichromatism with males being yellower-greener (less red) and brighter than females; 34% of males and 85% of females could be categorized correctly based on objective colour measurements from photographs. The ratio of greenish and reddish individuals as categorized subjectively by human vision correlated strongly with the sex ratio of treatment groups. Treatment with 1 µg/L 17α-ethinylestradiol resulted in 100% females, with similar coloration as normal females. Intersex individuals occurred in treatment groups with 3 µg/L glyphosate and 1 ng/L 17α-ethinylestradiol; these animals were less saturated and darker reddish-brown compared to normal individuals. These results suggest that skin coloration can indicate phenotypic sex and gonadal abnormalities in common toads. Although skin colour measurement in itself is insufficient for identifying an individual's sex or the sex ratio of a single group, it can be useful for qualitative comparisons of sex ratios between groups when no other means of phenotypic sexing is possible. We propose that counting the number of greenish and reddish individuals as seen by the human eye is a cheap and fast non-invasive method for identifying natural populations or experimental groups that may have skewed sex ratios compared to other groups, and this approach is worth testing in other species to help conservation practices and non-destructive ecotoxicological experiments.

Objective measurement and comparison of human facial skin color in East Asian females.

Skin color is an important physiological index of human skin that has essential significance in cosmetology and dermatological diagnoses and aesthetics, especially in East Asian culture, where the beauty standard is the whiter the skin, the more beautiful a person is. However, there has been a lack of objective comparisons of facial skin color in East Asian females. Skin color at the cheek site was measured in 445 healthy females, including 362 Chinese women in Beijing and 83 Japanese women in Tokyo, all aged 18-50years. The parameters consisted of L* , a* , b* , individual typology angle (ITA°), and hue angle and were determined using noninvasive skin measurement instruments. The skin color categories in East Asians ranged from very light (I) to brown (V), and the dark (VI) category was not observed; the main categories were light (II), intermediate (III), and tan (IV). The facial skin color of Chinese individuals was brighter, more reddish, and less yellowish than that of Japanese individuals. With age, L* values decreased, and a* values and hue angle increased in East Asians with significant differences. Chinese women showed the same differences as Japanese women for all parameters in all age groups. This study provides objective skin color measurements and examines significant differences with respect to geographic location and age.

Computer Vision System: A Better Tool for Assessing Pork and Beef Colour than a Standard Colourimeter

The aim of this paper was to evaluate the use of computer vision system (CVS) to calculate CIE colour coordinates of beef and pork, as compared to a traditional Minolta colourimeter. Statistical analysis revealed significant differences of the colour parameters (L*a*b*, hue angle and chroma) using these two different techniques for colour detection. The CVS methodology produced colours highly similar to the visual assessment tests, but the Minolta colourimeter did not. The CVS-obtained colours were similar to the colours of both pork and beef samples visualized by trained panellists on the monitor, but colourimeter-obtained colours differed. The frequency of similarity for CVS-obtained colours and the actual meat colours as seen by the trained panellists was 100%. These results indicate that the CVS could be a superior alternative over the conventional Minolta colourimeter by offering improved representativeness and accuracy. In addition to providing objective colour measurement, it offers other possibilities that can be of benefit in further quality control or research within the meat industry.

PSXIV-2 Late-Breaking: The effect of nicotinamide riboside on pork loin chop color stability – a pilot study

Abstract The objective of this pilot study was to examine the effect of oral supplementation of nicotinamide riboside chloride (NR) on pork loin chop color stability. Seven days prior to the beginning of the experiment, 10 finishing barrows (initial BW 111.9±1.6 kg) were assigned to individual pens that allowed ad libitum access to food and water. Barrows were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 NR treatments, 0 or 30 mg/kg daily of NR (ChromaDex, Irvine, CA) mixed in Karo syrup and administered by oral gavage. Barrows were administered their assigned treatment for 10 d, after which they were harvested under USDA inspection. Twenty-four hours postmortem, whole-boneless loins were fabricated, vacuum packaged, and aged for 10 d. Loins were cut into 3 chops immediately posterior to the spinalis dorsi, with chop 1 being used for day-0 metmyoglobin reducing ability (MRA) analysis, chop 2 being used for day-4 MRA and oxygen consumption rate (OCR) analyses, and chop 3 for 8-day objective/subjective color evaluation and MRA and OCR analyses. There were no Treatment × Day interactions for all objective and subjective color measurements (P &amp;gt; 0.77). Day of display affected all measures consistent with the discoloration of meat (P &amp;lt; 0.02), except L* value which was not affected (P = 0.14). Objective measures indicated NR chops had greater a*, greater surface oxymyoglobin, and less surface metmyoglobin formation over the 8-day display period (P &amp;lt; 0.01). Panelists indicated NR chops had less discoloration form over the entire 8-day display period (P &amp;lt; 0.01), but treatment did not affect OCR and MRA (P &amp;gt; 0.19). Feeding NR at the end of the finishing period may enhance visual pork loin chop color during simulated retail display; however, a larger study is needed to confirm this finding.

Color and Lipid Stability of Dry Aged Beef During Retail Display

ObjectivesThere has been an increased interest in merchandising dry-aged steaks at the retail level. Further understanding of the influence of the dry aging process on meat color and lipid stability is needed to ensure dry-aged beef products can be merchandised without adverse impacts on retail display life. Therefore, this study aimed to determine color and lipid stability of steaks from dry-aged beef loins over 7 d (d) of retail display.Materials and MethodsSixteen USDA low Choice boneless strip loins were assigned to one of four aging treatments: vacuum (Wet), dry-aging at 50% relative humidity (RH) (RH50), dry-aging at 70% RH (RH70), or dry-aging at 85% RH (RH85). Dry-aged loins were placed in each assigned dry aging chamber, while wet aged counterparts were aged in vacuum bags in the same cooler. Loins were aged for 42 d at 1°C. After aging, loins were trimmed of dehydrated lean/fat and fabricated into steaks. Steaks were trimmed of subcutaneous fat, and placed on foam trays, overwrapped with oxygen permeable film and placed under retail display (RD) conditions for 7 d at 2°C. Objective color measurements were taken once daily from d 0 to 7 of RD. Trained visual color panelists (n = 6) evaluated surface discoloration from d 0 to 7 of RD once daily. Lipid oxidation was measured via thiobarbituric acid reactive substance assay (TBARS) at 0, 4, and 7 d of RD. Color data were analyzed as a split-plot repeated measures design with treatment as the whole-plot and RD time as the repeated measures. TBARS data were analyzed as a split-plot design with aging treatment as the whole-plot, and RD time as the split-plot. In this study, chamber (loin) was considered the experimental unit. Data were analyzed using the PROC GLIMMIX procedure of SAS with α = 0.05.ResultsFor all three-color scales, a RD effect was found (P &lt; 0.001). In general, L*, a* and b* values decreased as RD time increased, regardless of the aging treatment. Wet-aged steaks had higher L* (P &lt; 0.05), a* (P &lt; 0.05), and b* values (P &lt; 0.001) than any other dry-aged treatment. No differences in L*, a*, and b* values among dry aging treatments were found (P &lt; 0.05). A 2-way interaction between treatment and RD for discoloration was observed (P &lt; 0.05). No differences were found among treatments over the first 2 d of RD (P &gt; 0.05). Samples began to diverge on Day 3 of RD. Dry-aged steaks had greater discoloration scores (P &lt; 0.05) than wet-aged steaks at 4, 5, 6, and 7 d of RD. However, no differences in discoloration scores among RH treatments were found. There was a RD effect on TBARS values (P &lt; 0.001). Greater TBARS values were found as RD progressed from d 0 to d 4 and d 7, regardless of the aging treatment. A treatment effect was observed for lipid oxidation (P &lt; 0.05). Dry-aged steaks had higher TBARS values than wet-aged steaks. No differences in TBARS values among dry aging treatments were found.ConclusionDry aging of beef resulted in decreased lightness and redness values and increased lipid oxidation compared to wet aging. Results suggest that with prolonged RD dry aging of beef has the potential to reduce color and lipid stability compared to wet-aging and thus reduce display life. Dry-aged steaks met the 20% discoloration threshold and overcame the acceptability threshold of 2.28 mg of malonaldehyde/kg at d 4 of RD, indicating that dry-aged steaks can be merchandised in the retail level for 3 d without detrimental effects on color and lipid oxidation.

A Comparison of Water Chilling and Air Chilling on Poultry Shelf Life

ObjectivesIn the U.S. water immersion chilling (WC) is commonly used to chill poultry, while the E.U. utilizes air chilling (AC). With demand for poultry continuing to rise, poultry products with longer shelf life and less food waste will be needed. Meanwhile, widespread efforts to reduce natural resource and energy expenditures, such as water, as a means of enhancing sustainability, exist across the meat industry, including the poultry industry. Therefore, the objective of this study was to compare the impact of WC and AC on the shelf life and meat quality of bone-in and boneless chicken breast.Materials and MethodsA total of 256 eviscerated non-chilled chicken carcasses were obtained from a commercial processing facility in California and transported to the UC Davis meat laboratory within 2 h. Carcasses were randomly and evenly assigned to either water immersion chilling (WC) or air chilling (AC) and then were evenly assigned to be fabricated into bone-in (BI) or boneless (BL) breast. The breast samples were subsequently packaged onto polystyrene trays, overwrapped, and placed into cardboard boxes for dark storage at 4°C for either 7d (phase 1) or 14d (phase 2). Then breast samples were placed into a retail display case maintained at 4°C for 3d. Instrumental color measurement was performed every 12 h during retail display. Microbial analysis was conducted for samples collected on arrival, post chilling, post-fabrication, after dark storage at 4°C for 7d or 14d and after 3d retail display (n = 10 per sampling point per treatment). A panel of 8 untrained participants were asked to evaluate the color and their willingness to purchase (for example color: desirable, acceptable, unacceptable). Analysis of variance was conducted to evaluate the effect of chilling method and storage time on all dependent variables using Proc Mixed in SAS (version 9.4).ResultsThe WC chicken possessed lower psychrotrophic bacterial counts (1.05 log CFU/g) pre-fabrication than the AC chicken (2.12 log CFU/g), indicating that WC may remove a portion of the psychrotrophic bacteria. However, no difference in mesophilic bacterial counts was observed between the two treatments for pre-fabrication samples. The WC chicken and AC chicken, regardless of fabrication type, reached the end of shelf life (7 log CFU/g) at the 14d. The BL samples, regardless of chilling method, had lower total microbial counts throughout storage and display than the BI samples, since the removal of the skin physically removed the general microbial population as well. In terms of objective color, the a* and b* values were higher for AC breast, suggesting that AC breast was more red and yellow than WC breast through the display time. Chilling method did not have an impact on subjective color measurement. During phase 1, untrained panelist considered the color of BL chicken breasts more desirable than the BI breasts. During phase 2, regardless of chilling method or fabrication type, the desirability of color by untrained panelist decreased as display time increased.ConclusionThe results indicate that chilling method had a minimal impact on the shelf life in terms of the microbial counts. Although AC chicken breast tend to be more yellow based on objective color measurement, consumers did not detect a distinct color difference of chicken treated with air chilling or water chilling.

Influence of Post-Harvest Circulatory Rinse on Tenderness and Objective Color of Cow Striploin Steaks

ObjectivesWhole muscle cuts from cows are often less tender than cuts from young fed beef due to increased collagen cross-linking associated with animal age. The injection of a rinse solution through the carotid artery following exsanguination has been shown to improve tenderness. The objective of this study was to compare the effect of a post-harvest rinse of an isotonic solution through the circulatory system on tenderness of steaks from cows.Materials and MethodsCows (n = 28) were randomly assigned to carcass treatments. The carcass treatments consisted of non-rinsed control (n = 14) and a rinsed (n = 14) treatment, where a chilled isotonic solution (MPSC, Inc., St. Paul, MN) was rinsed through the carotid artery and veins following exsanguination. The isotonic solution consisted of water, glucose, maltose and phosphates. Both control and rinsed treatments were electrically stimulated. At 2 d postmortem, strip loins were removed from one side of each carcass. Strip loins were fabricated into 2.54 cm steaks at 3 d postmortem and objective color measurements (L*, a* and b*) were recorded on a single steak after a 30-min bloom period. Steaks were vacuum packaged and aged at 4°C for 7, 14, and 21 d. Following aging, steaks were frozen (–20°C) for future analysis. Warner-Bratzler Shear Force (WBSF) was used to measure tenderness. Frozen steaks were thawed at 4°C for 24 h before cooking. Internal temperature was monitored on all steaks using a digital thermometer that was placed in the center of each steak. Steaks were cooked on an electric clamshell grill to an internal temperature of 71°C. Peak cook temperature was recorded for each steak. Following cooking, steaks were cooled at 4°C and allowed to equilibrate to room temperature (20°C). Six cores (1.27 cm) were removed from each steak and sheared perpendicular to the muscle fiber orientation. The peak force was recorded for each core and the average calculated for each steak. Data were analyzed using the MIXED procedure of SAS (SAS Inst. Inc., Cary, NC). Shear force data were analyzed as a repeated measure with time and treatment as fixed variables. Color data were analyzed as a completely randomized design using treatment as the fixed variable. Statistical significance was considered at an α of P &lt; 0.05 and trends at 0.05 ≤ P &lt; 0.10.ResultsThere was no interaction (P = 0.6068) between treatment and postmortem aging day. Steaks from the rinsed treatment were more tender (P = 0.0005), than steaks in the control treatment (3.51 ± 0.168 kg vs. 4.41 ± 0.174 kg, respectively). Postmortem aging influenced (P = 0.0310) tenderness. Steaks aged 7 d were less tender (P = 0.0087) than steaks aged for 21 d (4.18 ± 0.155 kg vs. 3.72 ± 0.156 kg, respectively), while 14 d steaks did not differ (P &gt; 0.05) from those aged 7 or 21 d. Objective color was not impacted by rinse treatment (P &gt; 0.05).ConclusionThese data suggest that the application of a post-harvest rinse with an isotonic solution through the circulatory system improves the tenderness of cow steaks but does not influence objective color.