2008/169/EC: Commission Decision of 22 February 2008 authorising methods for grading pig carcases in Romania (notified under document number C(2008) 676)
Date: 2008-02-22
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: Romania, carcase, classification, swine

L 56/34

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

29.2.2008

COMMISSION DECISION

of 22 February 2008

authorising methods for grading pig carcases in Romania

(notified under document number C(2008) 676)

(Only the Romanian text is authentic)

(2008/169/EC)

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

(5)

Having regard to the Treaty
Community,

establishing the European

Having regard to Council Regulation (EEC) No 3220/84 of
13 November 1984 determining the Community scale for
grading pig carcases (1), and in particular Article 5(2) thereof,

Whereas:

Under Article 2(3) of Regulation (EEC) No 3220/84, the
grading of pig carcases is to be determined by estimating
the lean meat content by means of statistically proven
assessment methods based on the physical measurement
of one or more anatomical parts of the pig carcase. The
to
grading methods
authorisation
compliance with a maximum tolerance for statistical
error
is defined in
Article 3(2) of Commission Regulation (EEC) No
2967/85 of 24 October 1985 laying down detailed
rules for the application of the Community scale for
grading pig carcases (2).

in assessment. This

tolerance

subject

of

is

Romania has asked the Commission to authorise two
methods of grading pig carcases and has presented the
results of its dissection trials in the second part of the
protocol provided for in Article 3(3) of Regulation (EEC)
No 2967/85.

the
Examination of
conditions for authorising these grading methods are
fulfilled.

revealed that

request has

this

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

The measures provided for
accordance with the opinion of
Committee for Pigmeat,

in this Decision are in
the Management

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:

Article 1

The use of the following methods is hereby authorised for
grading pig
to Regulation (EEC) No
3220/84 in Romania:

carcases pursuant

(a)

the Fat-O-Meat’er
(FOM) apparatus and the assessment
methods related thereto, details of which are given in Part
1 of the Annex;

(b) the OptiGrade-Pro (OGP) apparatus and the assessment
methods related thereto, details of which are given in Part
2 of the Annex.

Article 2

Modifications of the apparata or the assessment methods shall
not be authorised.

Article 3

This Decision is addressed to Romania.

Done at Brussels, 22 February 2008.

No modification of the apparata or grading methods may
be authorised except by means of a new Commission
Decision adopted in the light of experience gained. For
this reason, the present authorisation may be revoked.

For the Commission

Mariann FISCHER BOEL
Member of the Commission

(1) OJ L 301, 20.11.1984, p. 1. Regulation as last amended by Regu-

lation (EC) No 3513/93 (OJ L 320, 22.12.1993, p. 5).

(2) OJ L 285, 25.10.1985, p. 39. Regulation as last amended by Regu-

lation (EC) No 1197/2006 (OJ L 217, 8.8.2006, p. 6).

29.2.2008

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 56/35

ANNEX

Methods for grading pig carcasses in Romania

PART 1
FAT-O-MEAT’ER (FOM)

1. Grading of pig carcases is carried out by means of the apparatus known as ‘Fat-O-Meat’er (FOM)’.

2. The apparatus shall be equipped with a probe of 6 millimetres diameter containing a photodiode of the Siemens SFH
950/960 type and having an operating distance of between 3 and 103 millimetres. The results of the measurements
are converted into estimated lean meat content by means of a computer.

3. The lean meat content of the carcasse shall be calculated according to the following formula:

Ŷ = 60,26989 – 0,81506 * X1 + 0,20097 * X2

where:

Ŷ

= the estimated percentage of lean meat in the carcasse

X1

= thickness of fat, including rind, in millimetres, measured at 7 cm from the midline

X2

= thickness of the muscle in millimetres, measured at 7 cm from the midline, between the third and fourth last

rib

This formula shall be valid for carcasses weighing between 50 and 120 kilograms.

PART 2

OPTIGRADE-PRO (OGP)

1. Grading of pig carcasses shall be carried out by means of the apparatus termed ‘OptiGrade-Pro (OGP)’.

2. The apparatus shall be equipped with an optical probe 6 mm in diameter, one infrared photodiode (Siemens) and a
photo transistor (Siemens). The operating distance shall be between 0 and 110 mm. The results of the measurements
are converted into estimated lean meat content by means of a computer.

3. The lean meat content of the carcasses shall be calculated using the following formula:

Ŷ = 61,21920 – 0,77665 * X1 + 0,15239 * X2

where:

Ŷ

= the estimated percentage of lean meat in the carcasse

X1

= thickness of fat, including rind, in millimetres, measured at 7 cm from the midline, between the third and

fourth last rib

X2

= thickness of the muscle in millimetres, measured at 7 cm from the midline, between the third and fourth last

rib

This formula shall be valid for carcasses weighing between 50 and 120 kilograms.