Identification of country of production of veal meat by NIRS and by meat quality measurements.

The study used 356 veal calf meat samples received from Finland (n=16), France (n=109), Italy (n=81) and The Netherlands (n=150). Calves were raised under experimental protocols that compared feeding and housing practices normally used in each county to treatments aiming at improving animal welfare. Samples were taken at the $8^{th}$ rib of Longissimus thoracis muscle 24h after slaughter, They were kept refrigerated ( $2-4^{\circ}C$) under vacuum package for 6d and then frozen ($-20^{\circ}C$) until meat quality evaluation. Measurements included pH, color (Hunter Lab system), shear force, chemical composition (DM, Ash, Ether Extract, collagen and haematin content), weight and area cooking losses and a sensory evaluation by a group of panelists. A sample of meat was ground with a blade mill and scanned in duplicate between 1100 and 1498 nm (FOSS NIR Systems 5000). WinISI software was used to develop a discriminating equation using NIR spectra (SNV-detrend, derivative=1, gap=4nm, smooth=4nm). The Proc ANOVA and DISCRIM of SAS were used for all the laboratory determinations. County of production had a significant (P<0.01) effect on all the parameters. However, discriminant analysis using any or few laboratory parameters resulted in great errors of county classification. A more accurate (98.8%) classification was obtained only when using all the laboratory parameters. NIRS classified correctly 354 of the 356 samples (99.4%). Provided with a larger data set, NIRS could be used to identify country of production of veal meat.