Investigate Ultrasound Measurement Techniques in Lamb Carcases for the Commercialisation of GR and Lean Meat Yield Prediction measures

Summary

Sheep CRC conducted a previous project to investigate the use of ultrasound in lamb carcases for the measurement of GR Depth.  Other measures such as C-Site depth were also investigated. The objective was to develop a low cost solution for lamb processors to assess lamb carcase confirmation and ultimately lean meat yield (LMY). 
A range of probes were used with varying success.  A series of manual image analysis measures were taken that produced a LMY predictive equation with correlations of R2 (adj) = 71.7 back to CT LMY.   However, the automation of these measures, required for operation at commercial line speeds was not possible. Two main hurdles prevented the combination of ultrasound probes and existing image analysis technology from immediate commercial application.  These included: 

Air bubbling in the fat layers - This resulted in unclear images and complicated the automatic image analysis measurements; AND​
​Fat and muscle compression – Compression occurred at the measurement site between the probe and the muscle and produced additionalmeasurement variation.  This problem is also thought to be the major source of inaccuracy in the existing Hennessey measurements of GR depth.


A number of strategies were used to address the problems such as including wide face plates to disperse the compression away from the measurement site.  Although each problem was overcome to varying degrees, no one combination of solutions addressed all issues.