Development and use of the G2 Tenderometer

There have been many attempts to develop meat tenderness measurement devices over the last 30 years. However, despite the 20 or so devices that are reported in the literature, the most commonly used devices are still the Tenderometer and the Warner Bratzler. The Warner Bratzler was developed in the 60's and the basic design measures the maximum force required to cut through a core of meat. Typically, a Warner Bratzler device consists of a stainless steel blade with a hole in the middle. A pre-prepared cooked meat core is placed through this hole and a triangular shaped blade slices through the meat perpendicular to the fibres using a guillotine-like action. A force gauge measures the maximum force required to perform this cutting action. The meat cores are prepared from samples that have been cooked in a standardised manner and cut to a core size of 1.27 cm diameter. Despite the widespread use of this system, it is well recognised that the preparation of the meat cores is highly operator dependent and can readily result in a high degree of variation between samples. The slicing action itself is also time-consuming, and depending upon the recording devices attached to the basic shearing apparatus, some variation can also result. Although the Warner-Bratzler system describes the cutting apparatus, the main mechanical displacement system that operates the blade are typically linear displacement motors which are very expensive.

Further information on the G2 Tenderometer is available.

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