Color Determination of Beef Rib Eye Using Near Infrared Spectroscopy

Beef samples of loin eye area from New Zealand, USA and three quality grades of Hanwoo were analyzed using near infrared spectrophotometer with reference values from laboratory optical Chromameter to determine effective spectrum range and mathematical treatment for determination of color values. $R^2s$ of prediction models were not improved much by calibrating with whole light range (400~2500 nm) compared to using visible range (400~1100 nm). Standard errors of calibration and prediction were influenced by possible bias due to sampling non-homogeneous sample sources. However, partial differentiation in the first order was more stable against sampling biases than second derivatives of the spectra. Lightness value was little different among the five sample sources of beef. Beef samples from USA were brighter and more reddish than beefs of Hanwoo or from New Zealand (p<0.05). Yellowness of USA beef was the highest followed by beef from New Zealand, which was also higher than Hanwoo beefs of three quality grades (p<0.05).