Meat quality assessment by NMR imaging & spectroscopy

Starting date
October 1, 2007
Duration (months)
12
Departments
Computer Science, Department of Engineering for Innovation Medicine, Neurosciences, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences
Managers or local contacts
Zancanaro Carlo
Keyword
Magnetic resonance, Meat, Muscle, Structure, Food

This project is a comprehensive approach at pork quality assessment as a function of feeding; state-of-the-art techniques and advanced methodologies (in particular, MRI) will be used to evaluate possible advantages of pig dietary manipulation for both farmers and consumers. A first possible advantage for local economy is the validation of a pork-quality improvement through feeding with a commercially available feed amenable to immediate use in the farm; given the relevance of pork production in the Verona region and the increasing attention of consumers to food quality, this would add significantly to the value of the goods produced. A second advantage would be the setting-up of a rapid, affordable and reliable testing protocol for meat quality, representing an opportunity for local farmers.
  1. Feeding two groups of pigs with standard feed or feed obtained by crops grown using BIOPRE products; slaughtering & dissection of selected muscles;
  2. Execution of the NMR imaging and spectroscopy protocols using pork of the two groups;
  3. Definition of the NMR pork quality parameters (water & fat content, composition, connective distribution etc);
  4. Morphological and histochemical analysis of pork meat (light & electron microscopy, fibres typifying etc);
  5. Evaluation of structural and composition differences in pork from the two groups.

Sponsors:

Bio-Pre Srl
Funds: assigned and managed by the department

Project participants

Manuela Malatesta
Associate Professor
Pasquina Marzola
Full Professor
Carlo Zancanaro
Full Professor

Collaboratori esterni

Gianni Martini
BIO-PRE Srl
Research areas involved in the project
Anatomy & Morphology

Activities

Research facilities

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