The purpose of this project was to investigate the ability of an automated beef rib cutting system to accurately perform objective carcase measurement (OCM) on beef sides for fat, lean and bone composition.

This system utilises dual-energy x-ray (DEXA) hardware to drive automated cutting of beef carcases. There is currently a need in the industry for methods to objectively measure carcase characteristics for the purposes of grading.

The data gathered from this system demonstrates good potential for measuring carcase composition using DEXA values. The next phase of work should involve confirming these results within an expanded data set, while also testing the stability of this measurement across a variety of processing factors.