2023-10-052023-10-052023-05https://hdl.handle.net/2346/96420The United States beef industry sets the tone for the safest, highest-quality, best-tasting beef in the world. However, that did not happen by chance. Over a century's worth of grade standard development for beef carcasses, along with advanced technology and more selective genetic criteria have all had an important role. Nonetheless, as the population continues to rise, so will the need to grade more cattle. However, it cannot and will not be accomplished by human graders alone. The need for technology that is efficient, objective, and accurate is vital. Instrument grading has been around for over 20 years and there are still improvements to be made. The need for a more accurate assessment of the ribeye area in a beef carcass has been made apparent. Though many factors affect a carcass’s ribeye area, the VBG-7L was created to address errors in beef ribbing. Furthermore, a hand-held portable grading instrument has been created to fill practical instrument grading technology gaps across the meat industry. The objective of this study was to create a more accurate ribeye area regression equation for the VBG-7L grading instrument. The second part of this study was to evaluate the effects of bloom time on carcass traits for the VBG-7L and the VBG-SmartCam. Experiment I: 404 carcasses or 808 sides (N = 808) were imaged using the VBG-7L grading camera at chain speed by three independent camera operators. Carcasses were later railed onto stationary rails and imaged three more times by independent VBG-SmartCam operators. Following image capture, three experienced beef evaluators traced each longissimus dorsi muscle of the exposed 12th rib interface once, for a total of three independent tracings per carcass side. Tracings were scanned and an ‘actual’ ribeye area for each side was determined by calculating the mean of each side. Carcass images were evaluated, and carcass data were compared to carcass tracing means. Experiment II: 90 sides (N = 90) were imaged once by the VBG-7L and the VBG-SmartCam. Carcass traits for ribeye color, marbling score, preliminary yield grade, adjusted preliminary yield grade, ribeye area, and calculated yield grade were observed for the following time intervals (minutes): 0, 5, 10, 15, 20, 30, 60, 90, and 120. The regression model for Experiment I determined three significant variables impacting the VBG-7L ribeye area prediction the most. Two different equations were developed to address differences in ribeye exposure due to varying ribbing methods (hot saw vs. cold saw). The VBG-7L showed promise in predicting more accurate ribeye areas being more representative of a beef carcasses’ true red meat yield. For experiment II, both cameras identified similar trends for the same carcass traits during bloom time. The change in ribeye color over time was well documented by each camera. Additionally, each camera observed the highest mean marbling score at ribbing with each instrument observing a decrease of nearly 20 units over a two-hour period. The speed, precision, and accuracy of instrument grading is a valuable asset when it comes to large-scale beef grading. As technology continues to advance, so will that of instrument grading cameras.Application/pdfengInstrument GradingBeefTechnologyBloom TimeRibeye AreaThesisAccess is not restricted.