Predicting fat-free lean weight resulted in equal or lower CD than dissected lean and higher CD for lean percentage. It seems that orientation during scanning, when consistent, is not a major concern. As the time between scanning and dissection increases, dehydration weight loss may need to be measured.

ABSTRACT:To evaluate the effect of orientation of hams during electromagnetic scanning on the estimation of dissected lean content, hams were scanned horizontally, posterior first (POS) or dorsal first (DOR), and vertically, medial side (aitchbone) first (MED; standing on the butt face). Weight and percentage of dissected lean were estimated using scan peak for each orientation, ham weight, and fat thickness. The mean scan peak for the MED orientation was approximately twice as great as peaks for the POS and DOR orientations, which suggests that this orientation may offer greater predictive accuracy by reducing the signal to noise ratio. Results, however, indicated that all orientations were equally effective at predicting lean weight and percentage, with R 2 values of .95 and .75 and root mean square errors of .21 kg and 2.6%, respectively.