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The Use of Natural Gamma Activity to Measure the Composition of Pork and Lamb Samples a
Author(s) -
KIRTON A. H.,
PEARSON A. M.,
PORTER R. W.,
NELSON R. H.
Publication year - 1961
Publication title -
journal of food science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.772
H-Index - 150
eISSN - 1750-3841
pISSN - 0022-1147
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2621.1961.tb00392.x
Subject(s) - composition (language) , chemical composition , potassium , chemistry , range (aeronautics) , food science , mathematics , materials science , philosophy , linguistics , organic chemistry , composite material
SUMMARY The gamma activity of 20 pork and 15 lamb samples, varying over a wide range in composition and each weighing 38 lb, was used to predict their chemical composition in terms of percentage of water, fat, and protein. All correlations between the estimated potassium content of the samples and the sample components were highly significant. However, the standard errors of the regression equations indicated that none of the relationships between the chemical components of the lamb samples and their potassium content were close enough to be of practical significance. The results on the pork samples seemed more promising. The standard errors suggest that chemical analysis should be used when accurate results are required or when the range in composition is small. However, advances in instrumentation may increase the accuracy of the K‐40 method. Some of the difficulties in applying the method to the measurement of meat composition are discussed.