Use of the Hennessy and Chong Fat Depth Indicator for Predicting Fatness of Beef Carcasses

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Abstract
The unribbed left sides of 400 beef carcasses were probed with the Fat Depth Indicator (FDI), before and after chilling, at a point approximating the location at which the thickness of fat is measured in the determination of USDA yield grade. After ribbing, the actual fat thickness was measured with a ruler. The FDI readings from the warm and chilled sides explained about 45 and 66%, respectively, of the variation in the actual fat thickness measurement. Compared with actual fat thickness measurements, the FDI readings on the warm sides were more accurate (FDI mean values were closer to the actual mean values) than the FDI readings on the chilled sides, but the FDI readings on the chilled sides were more precise (more highly correlated with the actual measurements). Means for six, 5-mm-wide fat thickness groups based on FDI readings of either warm or chilled sides were ranked in the same order as the means for corresponding groupings based on actual fat measurements. In another group of beef carcasses (n = 50), FDI readings at seven locations on chilled sides were generally significantly correlated with the actual fat thickness measurements, with USDA yield grade and with carcass yields of cuts at two different carcass cutability end points. However, when added to the four factors used in the determination of USDA yield grade, none of the FDI readings made important increases in the explained percentage variation in cutability. The results of these studies indicate that while the FDI might be useful in segregating carcasses into fatness groups to achieve greater efficiency in chilling and fabrication, it likely would make little improvement in the accuracy of yield grading or in the selection of high or low cutability carcasses within the same yield grade.

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