Characteristics of the appearance of meat I. —The luminous absorption, scatter and internal transmittance of the lean of bacon manufactured from normal and pale pork

Abstract

Pork selected on the basis of its pH 45 minutes post‐slaughter (pH₁) was manufactured into bacon. The Kubelka and Munk colourant‐layer analysis was applied to the luminous reflectance of thin slices and the absorption and scatter coefficients and the internal transmittance were calculated. The dependence of the absorption and scatter coefficients on the rate of post‐mortem glycolysis and pigment content was investigated. The scatter coefficient was significantly related to the pH₁. The luminous reflectivity of pork was found to be more significantly affected by variations in the scatter coefficient than the absorption coefficient. Pork and bacon from pigs with low values of pH₁ (1 samples was greater in pork than in bacon. The luminous reflectivity, absorption and scatter coefficients, the internal transmittance and the pigment content of the bacon were significantly related to the pork from which it was made.