Cebo or Bellota Iberian ham?

100% bellota Iberian ham is one of the most prized and highest value-added food products in the Spanish food industry.

The main distinguishing characteristics ofIberian ham are the racial purity of the animals, the breeding regime, and the feed.

All these factors have a direct effect on the quality of the product. In the case of feed (fattening or acorn-fed), this translates into a distinctive fatty acid profile that influences the salting time required for the ham prior to curing.

In addition, the fatty acid profile is a good tool for determining the feed an animal has received, thus complementing the documentation required by law, something that is, however, susceptible to fraud.

How is the fatty acid profile of ham determined?

Until now it was only possible by gas chromatographic analysis in a laboratory, which is expensive and time-consuming, limiting the extent of its use.

Now, however, using NIR technology, it is possible to perform this analysis and obtain results in just a few seconds.

Thanks to this speed of analysis, it is possible to sample a significant volume of the parts entering production, thus achieving exhaustive quality control.

CICAP(Centro deInvestigación y Calidad Agroalimentaria del Valle de los Pedroches), creator of models in Chemometric Brain, has developed quantitative models for the determination of the fatty acid profile in liquid Iberian pork fat, which are available through our software.

Any company in the production ofIberian ham can quickly and easily implement this solution to improve their quality control, optimize their salting times and ensure the purchasing process to guarantee.

No need for any specialization in technology or long development projects.

Ask us to learn more about quality control with NIR in Iberian ham.

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