Characteristics of the quality of mechanically separated turkey meat

The production technology and the source material cause that the bone content represents the main criterion to detect and to characterize mechanically separated meat. The amount of this tissue component may be determined with the help of the calcium-analysis or the quantitative microscopic method. Concerning the histometric method modern automatic techniques make it possible to determine directly the area contents of irregular limited objects which are discriminated by different colour phases. The suitability of the planimetrical system for quantifying the bone tissue was verified using 35 samples of mechanically separated turkey meat. The results are compared with the data gained from the manual particle counting method and the calcium analysis. A high correlation was found among the three methods.