LEAN CUT YIELD AND AN EVALUATION OF HAMS AND LOINS OF U.S.D.A. PORK CARCASS GRADES

Abstract

Surveys in Wisconsin as well as at other stations have indicated that consumers select high quality lean cuts in preference to those cuts which are excessively fat. Decreased demand for lard, consumer resistance to fatty foods, and more specialization in meat marketing methods also have increased the need for improved evaluation techniques and to determine the influence of grade and weight of carcass on the quantity and the composition of pork cuts. The U.S.D.A. swine carcass grades are based largely on backfat thickness and provide a fairly accurate means of estimating the percentage of lean cuts in a carcass. The live backfat probe technique developed by Hazel and Kline (1952) can be used to estimate the backfat thickness and consequently the carcass grade and percent lean cut yield with reasonable accuracy. This technique does not, however, give any indication of the composition or quality of the lean cuts nor is the effect of sex, weight, and carcass grade on quality of cuts known. If accurate predictions concerning the composition of cuts could be made by examination of carcasses, it might allow more realistic purchasing of live hogs and would also permit more widespread buying and selling of pork carcasses and cuts on a merit basis. This study is an attempt to determine the association of carcass grade and weight with the quality and composition of certain pork cuts.