Advancing technology development for beef total quality management

Over the past three years, scientists and staff at the Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada Lacombe Research and Development Centre (AAFC-Lacombe) have successfully developed dual energy X-ray absorptiometry(DEXA) as a platform technology for the routine prediction of beef carcass composition (fat, lean and bone tissue mass) calibrated to carcass dissection, retail cut-ability and chemical analysis. Supported by the Canadian Beef Grading Agency, with funding from the Beef Cattle Research Council and the Alberta Livestock and Meat Agency, 316 beef carcasses were used to develop and validate prediction models for estimating lean meat yield. In order to represent the majority of commercial cattle found in the Canadian market, the animal population was carefully selected within a live weight and backfat grid and from different production sources. Left carcass sides were broken down into main primal and retail cuts using Institutional Meat Purchase Specifications (IMPS). The results show these scans are highly accurate in predicting lean and fat tissues within major primal cuts of beef.