Quality attributes and color characteristics in three-piece boneless hams

- Poor-quality ham muscles were more likely to express two toning than normal hams.
- Muscle pH appeared to be a good predictor of two toning in ham muscles.
- The lightness of muscles using L* values from the GM can be accurately predicted.

One hundred and fifty hams were selected on visual assessment of quality into normal (C) and two-tone (TT) groups. CIE LAB color and pH measurements were collected at the plant 48 h postmortem on the gluteus medius (GM), gluteus profundus (GP), and rectus femoris (RF), and again at 72 h on the semimembranosus (SM), biceps femoris (BF), semitendinosus (ST), and RF. Data were analyzed using GLM procedures of SAS, and correlations between color scores, pH, and drip loss were calculated. Plant and fabrication pH were lower (P < 0.01) in GM from TT hams compared with C. Muscles from TT hams had lower (P < 0.01) L* and a* values compared with C. The GM L* and GM pH values were correlated (P < 0.05) with L* values for all other muscles and drip loss in SM. These data show that GM color and pH are accurate predictors of pork quality attributes in the muscles of a three-piece boneless ham.