Pork is a biological product with a natural variation. Pork quality can be defined in many different ways (lean%, weight, visual aspects, sensory perception, and suitability for further processing) and also varies according to different markets.
The pork processing industry has been specialized in sorting on weight and lean characteristics of carcasses and primal cuts. Sorting for Water-holding-capacity (WHC) has not been achieved mainly due to the lack of rapid on-line non-invasive pork quality measurements. Nevertheless, WHC is one of the most important pork quality traits as it improves the sensory appreciation of pork by consumers, affects amount of saleable meat by reducing purge loss, and increases processing yield of further processed products. WHC of pork is the result of many management conditions of pig husbandry, animal transport, stunning and killing of pigs and the cooling conditions of carcasses. A higher control of these processes will improve the sustainability of the pork supply chain.
Near Infra Red (NIR) has been identified as a potential measuring technique that could sort primal cuts according to different WHC categories.
Based on different categories characterised e.g. by WHC, weight, lean, sorting and supplying for different markets can be done in two different models. The “Niche” market model and “High Throughput Differentiation” model.
The “Niche” market model targets one specific market and can only supply a few additional markets that do not fit the specifications for the main market.