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Relationship of Gamma-Ray Measurements to the Lean Content of Hams

U. S. Department of Agriculture

Abstract

Measurements were made of the gammaray emission of single hams from 34 hogs, using a sensitive low level gamma-ray detector. The hams were then separated by physical dissection into separable lean, separable fat, bone, and skin so that the gammaray measurements could be evaluated as to their usefulness for predicting ham composition. The separable lean content of the hams ranged from 6.5 to 11.7 lb., averaging 9.27 lb. Net counts per minute from potassium-40 were highly related (r=0.96) to pounds of separable lean. The sample standard deviation from regression was 0.38 lb. of separable lean. There was a much lower degree of correlation (r=0.47) between net counts per minute from the fission product cesium-137 and pounds of separable lean. The average ratio of cesium-137/potassium-40 gamma ray emission was the same for the rations fed (0.25) as for the intact hams.

¹ Agricultural Marketing Service, Beltsville, Maryland.

² Agricultural Research Service, Beltsville, Maryland.

³ The technical assistance of M. F. Combs, A. A. Collins, B. E. Dennard, and T. Jackson is gratefully acknowledged.

⁴ A report on this research was presented at the 52nd annual meeting of the American Society of Animal Production, Chicago, Illinois, November 25–26, 1960.