How to Calculate the Chemical Lean of Meat?

Can anyone give me a lesson in how the lean to fat ratio can be calculated in meat

We currently sell products with both a designated visual lean and chemical lean value written in the specification.

We have had a non-conformance reported because the customer has tested the product and found the chemical lean result to be too low.

I have a very very limited knowledge of how these things work and the main processing site doesn't actually do and chemical analysis of the product (thats a whole other story!)

Can anyone tell me...

1) What is FOSS - I have been sent FOSS results
2) Is chemical lean calculated purely by analysing the amount of fat in the meat?
3) What is the relationship of CL to VL - I'm guessing CL will be lower than VL but is there an industry standard used?
4) How often should we be doing a CL test
5) What control can I put in place for measuring visual lean - it appears it's just done on experience right now

Lesson one in Chemical versus Visual Lean required please!!

Thanks so much
Nomio

Can anyone give me a lesson in how the lean to fat ratio can be calculated in meat

We currently sell products with both a designated visual lean and chemical lean value written in the specification.

We have had a non-conformance reported because the customer has tested the product and found the chemical lean result to be too low.

I have a very very limited knowledge of how these things work and the main processing site doesn't actually do and chemical analysis of the product (thats a whole other story!)

Can anyone tell me...

1) What is FOSS - I have been sent FOSS results
2) Is chemical lean calculated purely by analysing the amount of fat in the meat?
3) What is the relationship of CL to VL - I'm guessing CL will be lower than VL but is there an industry standard used?
4) How often should we be doing a CL test
5) What control can I put in place for measuring visual lean - it appears it's just done on experience right now

Lesson one in Chemical versus Visual Lean required please!!

Thanks so much
Nomio

Hi Nomio,

Let me first add that I work for a company which supplies machines for CL determination. Eagle Product Inspection supplies Eagle FA systems which are used for inspection of meat for CL determination and can simultaneously check for foreign body contaminants as well as weight.

There are various methods such as Soxhlet method, Anyl-Ray, NIR/NIT, DEXA for chemical lean determination. Soxhlet is commonly used, which is off-line test on small sample. Smapling frequency, number of samples etc. would depend on your production volume.

FOSS is a company supplying equipments used for CL testing, not sure which equipment result you received.

When you say visual lean, I guess you are only sorting the product in different CL ranges based on its appearance but not actually measuring CL.


Kiran

When you say visual lean, I guess you are only sorting the product in different CL ranges based on its appearance but not actually measuring CL.

The product is sold on a VL figure and the product is made by sorting into different VL ranges. So no our company does not use CL measurements at all.

BUT our customer has completed a CL test and raised a non-conformance because for some reason we have agreed both a CL and VL amount in the specification,

I guess I'm hoping that someone will be able to tell me that CL results are always X% lower than VL results so really it's an incorrect figure written in my spec!! Or CL rapid tests are notoriously inaccurate, Or rapid tests will accurately give a result 3% less than standard test.

I just don't know enough to know how to argue this or what to change the spec to if that's what's required.

CL is usually part of the specs and price of meat agreed depends on the CL value. I don't think it can be said that actual CL will always be lower or higher by certain % than VL. It may have even more variation at lower CL range. The accuracy will depend on the method of testing and you will need to give appropriate time as required by that method.

You may visit www.eaglepi.com Eagle Product Inspection offers on-line system that can check CL at high accuracy at high throughput rates.

Kiran

Hi Nomio,

I would like to share a recent whitepaper from Eagle regarding CL testing, which can provide more information. You can get the whitepaper from following link.

www.eaglepi.com/wp_chemical_lean

The 12-page document explains how current methods of CL testing share some inherent limitations, which make it difficult to guarantee the fat content of meat, and shows how fat analysis has come a long way. Innovations in technology mean that solutions are now available that can help meat processors stay ahead in the highly competitive and increasingly global meat industry by enabling them to guarantee the CL value and the quality and safety of their meat.

Regards.