책임운영기관 농촌진흥청 국립축산과학원 (로고)

This research aimed to investigate the relationship between meat quality and muscle-to-fat ratio in specific cuts of pork (pork belly and Boston butt) utilizing magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Twenty-eight pigs were selected, and 24 hours post-slaughter, pork belly and Boston butt samples were individually extracted from the left half carcass for MRI assessment. The MRI scans were reviewed using the Picture Archiving and Communications System. Muscle and fat volumes in the pork belly and Boston butt from the cross-sectional images captured by MRI were estimated using Vitrea workstation version 7. Subsequently, these data were proces sed using Vitrea post-processing software to automatically determine the volumes, measured in milliliters (mL). Additionally, a three-dimensional reconstruction of the organ being studied was generated. The relationship between regions (pork belly and Boston butt) was assessed using Pearson’s correlation coefficient, and statistical analysis was conducted using Graph Pad Prism 8. The muscle-to-fat ratio determined by MRI for pork belly was 1 : 0.64, whereas for Boston butt it was 1 : 0.35. Results of comparing the muscle-fat ratio, the correlation coeffi cient between pork belly and Boston butt was found to be 0.6127 (R2 = 0.3754, p < 0.001) based on MRI analysis. As a result of measuring the muscle-to-fat ratio using MRI as a non-destructive approach, there was a positive correlation between the muscle-to-fat ratios of pork belly and Boston butt.