N. TAKUCHEV and V. DOICHEV
Trakia University, BG-6000 Stara Zagora, Bulgaria
TAKUCHEV, N. and V. DOICHEV, 2003. Chromaticity index for quantitative estimation of pig meat colour, adequate to the human colour vision. Bulg. J. Agric. Sci., 9: 89–94
The characteristic of pork meat colour, currently used in Bulgaria, is inadequate to the human colour vision. An adequate one could be constructed in principle on the basis of the colorimetry. It would be also universal for all species and all kind of muscles. But there is a problem – colorimetry characteristics are vectors (3 numbers), not single number (scalar), which could be more convenient for the practice.
In this paper is proposed an adequate single colour characteristic – Chromaticity Index (CI), based on colorimetric measurements of m. longissimus samples. In an appropriate colorimetric coordinate system (chromaticity system) the pig meat sample colours form narrow belt of points (chromaticity line). The CI of the sample is the distance between the chromaticity sample point and the chromaticity point near the end of the line. The profit – reduction the characteristic numbers from 3 to 1 is paid by loss of universality – not every kind of muscles in the species are equally suitable for developing CI and probably for different kind of species have to be developed different CI. Our research showed that m. longissimus thoracis et lumborum turned to be the most suitable place for the estimation of pig meat colour by CI.
The Chromaticity Index is an appropriate generalization of the presently used characteristic and extends the range of possible colour-connected tasks. For example, it is possible to develop a suitable set of colour standards for rapid visual estimation of the pig meat colour on the basis of chromaticity index data.