New device to measure lamb intramuscular fat crucial for industry

Being able to easily measure intramuscular fat in lambs is now a step closer, after a new device was recently accredited.

A new handheld device is paving the way to accurately and non-invasively measure intramuscular fat in lamb carcasses.

The handheld microwave-based device recently achieved AUS-MEAT accreditation and was developed by Murdoch University as part of an Meat and Livestock Australia Donor Company project.

The technology was originally designed to measure fat depth in both lamb and beef.

However, through using low power non-ionising electromagnetic waves, researchers found the device was also able to measure IMF in lamb.

The new hand held lamb IMF device.

Murdoch University Professor Graham Gardner said being able to accurately measure IMF was “crucial” for the lamb industry.

“IMF is the single biggest driver of eating quality in lamb, and the challenge we had is needing to measure it at chain speed (in the abattoir) and on hot carcasses,” Prof Gardner said.

“A modern lamb abattoir can have up to 16 carcasses move a minute, and this handheld device can easily keep up with that,” he said.

The non-invasive device can be used on a hot carcass to measure both GR tissue depth and IMF, it is hand held and is used by a human operator.

“We deliberately designed the device so it was easily deployable and as user friendly as possible,” Prof Gardner said.

From a producer perspective, he said the device has the potential to aid in the delivery of fairer and more accurate grading of carcass eating quality.

“It’s a huge breakthrough that represents an initiative to respond to industry demands to capture value-chain price differentials with objective measurement devices.”

Prof Gardner said to achieve accreditation the device was put through rigorous testing on large volumes of phenotypically diverse lambs at the WA Meat Marketing Co-operative’s (WAMMCO) Katanning abattoir.

“It needs to be able to predict the IMF value the same as what we would get in a lab fat extraction and then we also used it alongside three other objective measurement microwave devices to confirm across the board accuracy,” he said.

“By passing these accuracy standards it gives the industry confidence if they are measuring a trait or underpinning a brand, that measurement has substance and it can be relied on.”

The new handheld device can test IMF at chain-speed in an abattoir.

“The accreditation process really tests and proves that any of the microwave devices rolled out will give the same answer. The system is robust.”

The device has already been commercially installed at WA’s Dardanup Butchering Company, to measure GR tissue depth in lamb and it was hoped there would be more uptake.