Design and Experiment of A Portable Low-cost Digital Display Instrument for Determining Meat Tenderness

Tenderness is one of the most important meat quality traits. However, there is still a lack of portable or low-cost tenderness instrument in the market and some equipment do not meet the common standard. Therefore, a new portable low-cost digital display meat tenderness instrument was self-developed. It was composed of controller, cutter, data acquisition module, data conversion module, control chip, stepping motor, safety protection module, display screen and printer, all of which are cheap and lightweight components. The experimental results showed the reliability of the systematic error determination and tenderness determination precision of the meat tenderness instrument. Both of errors did not exceed the allowable relative deviation of 15% commonly used in the industry standard. The comparison results of meat tenderness determinations proved its values of accuracy, cheaper and more portable compared with traditional tenderness instrument. This study can provide theoretical reference and technical support for the development of intelligent tenderness instrument and meat industry.