• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Intelligent Systems Conference
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• 1993.06a
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• pp.960-963
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• 1993

We focus our attention on grading of table meat in accordance with the standard of Japan Meat Grading Association, and construct a beef grading system by image processing. For image processing of beef grading, it needs some techniques such as a shading correction, separation of color image data, and classification of color image data into some grades, for the system construction. However, there are various kinds of weak points in usually used methods for these techniques. Then the authors propose and introduce new approaches using Neural networks and fuzzy inference for the techniques above mentioned, which is very convenient and ensure the high precision.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.160-165
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• 2007

This study was conducted to evaluate beef using a color machine vision system. The machine vision system has an advantage to measure larger area than a colorimeter and also could measure other quality factors like distribution of fats. However, the machine vision measurement is affected by system components. To measure the beef color with the machine vision system, the effect of color balancing control was tested and calibration model was developed. Neural network for color calibration which learned reference color patches showed a high correlation with colorimeter in L*a*b* coordinates and had an adaptability at various measurement environments. The trained network showed a very high correlation with the colorimeter when measuring beef color.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.537-544
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• 2020

Beef consumption trends are changing according to consumer needs and preferences. This study was conducted to collect the fundamental information by investigating the consumer's preference and purchase propensity of beef(Hanwoo beef) for improvement of Korean beef grading system. Consumers were recruited from Seoul, Gyeonggi-do, and 5 metropolitan cities, and surveyed from July 24 ~ August 14, 2017. The data obtained from 362 consumers were finally selected for the verification process. Results from the Hierarchical Regression Analysis reveal that the increased purchasing frequency is positively correlated with the following factors, in the consumer group showing preference in the Quality Grade (QG) of beef: marbling type 1QG, fat color 1⁺QG, and income, grade opinion, marbling contents and type 1⁺⁺QG. Conversely, no factor affected the increased purchasing frequency in the consumer group having no preferred QG for beef (p>0.05). Our study determined significant differences in the factors affecting increased purchase frequency of beef among the different groups, classified depending on their preferred QG. The grading system is important since it directly correlates with profit for livestock farmers and the industry. We therefore propose that the grading criteria need to be revised reasonably but scientifically, considering various opinions of the producers and consumers.

• 축산식품과학과 산업
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.81-89
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• 2020

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.31 no.7
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• pp.951-960
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• 2018

Hanwoo cattle are an important food source in Korea and their supply can have a major impact on meat availability for Korean consumers. The Hanwoo population was 1.8 million head in 2005 and gradually increased to 2.6 million in 2015. Per capita beef consumption has also increased, to 11.6 kg per year in 2015, and is expected to continue to increase. Because intramuscular fat percentage is a critical contributor to meat quality, Hanwoo cattle are fed a high-energy corn-based diet for long fattening periods. Long fed diet causes significant alterations in fat percentage in the loin muscle and other areas of the carcass. However, these long feeding periods increase feeding costs and beef prices. Recently, there has been increased Korean consumer demand for lean beef which has less fat, but is tender and priced more reasonably. These consumer demands on the Korean beef industry are driving differing beef production systems and also changes to the beef grading methodology. Korean government has made a significant investment to select bulls with favorable production traits using progeny testing. Progeny tested bull semen has been disseminated to all Hanwoo farmers. A beef traceability system has been employed for all cattle breeds in Korea since 2009. Hanwoo cattle are ear-marked with a 12-digit identification number from birth to slaughter. This number allows traceability of the management history of individual cattle, and also provides information to consumers. Traceability including management information such as herd, farm, year of birth, and carcass data can determine estimated breeding values of Hanwoo. For a sustainable Hanwoo industry, research scientists in Korea have attempted to develop feeds for efficient fattening periods and precision feeding systems based on genetic information for Hanwoo cattle. These initiatives aim to Korean consumer demands for beef and provide more precision management in beef production in Korea.

• Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.16-21
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• 2003

In the agricultural field, a machine vision system has been widely used to automate most inspection processes especially in quality grading. Though machine vision system was very effective in quantifying geometrical quality factors, it had a deficiency in quantifying color information. This study was conducted to evaluate color of beef using machine vision system. Though measuring color of a beef using machine vision system had an advantage of covering whole lean tissue area at a time compared to a colorimeter, it revealed the problem of sensitivity depending on the system components such as types of camera, lighting conditions, and so on. The effect of color balancing control of a camera was investigated and multi-layer BP neural network based color calibration process was developed. Color calibration network model was trained using reference color patches and showed the high correlation with L*a*b* coordinates of a colorimeter. The proposed calibration process showed the successful adaptability to various measurement environments such as different types of cameras and light sources. Compared results with the proposed calibration process and MLR based calibration were also presented. Color calibration network was also successfully applied to measure the color of the beef. However, it was suggested that reflectance properties of reference materials for calibration and test materials should be considered to achieve more accurate color measurement.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.30 no.6 s.113
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• pp.340-346
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• 2005

Major quality features of the beef carcass in most countries including Korea are size, marbling state of the lean tissue, color of the fat and lean tissue, and thickness of back fat of the 13th rib. To evaluate the beef quality, extracting loin parts from the sectional image of the 13th beef rib is crucial and is the first step. However, because of the inhomogeneous distribution and fuzzy pattern of the fat and lean tissues on the beef cut, it is difficult to extract automatically the proper contour of the lean tissue. In this paper, a prototype mobile beef quality measurement system, which can be implemented practically at the beef processing site was developed. The developed system was composed of the hand held image acquisition unit and mobile processing unit mounted with touch-pad screen. Algorithms to extract the boundary of the lean tissue and a proper tool to evaluate the marbling status have been developed using color image processing. The boundary extraction algorithm showed successful results for the beef cuts with simple and moderate patterns of the lean tissue and fat. However, it had some difficulty in eliminating complex pattern of the extraneous tissues adhered to the lean tissue in the boundary extraction. The developed algorithms were implemented to the prototype mobile processing unit.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Agricultural Machinery Conference
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.440-446
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• 2006

• Food Science and Industry
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• v.51 no.3
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• pp.238-244
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• 2018

Hanwoo cattle have been genetically selected for enhancing meat quality and meat quantity since the last few decades. Beef consumption in South Korea has also increased to 11.6 kg per year in 2016 and is expected to continue to increase. For improving meat quality, Hanwoo cattle has been raised a high-energy corn-based diet for long fattening periods, which causes not increment of fat percentage in the loin muscle but increment of feeding costs. Consumer demands on the Korean beef industry are driving differing beef production systems and also changes to the beef grading system. For a sustainable Hanwoo industry, researcher in Korea have attempted to develop feeds for efficient fattening periods and precision feeding systems based on genetic information for Hanwoo cattle. Therefore, representatives of government, academics, and market association need to provide efficient collaboration for the future prospective or develop a precise management system for Hanwoo industry in Korea.

• The Korean Journal of Food And Nutrition
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.132-141
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• 2012

This current survey was conducted to examine consumer attitudes toward factors determining beef purchasing and improving distribution systems. The frequency of beef purchasing was shown to reflect social and economic status, where inhabitants in large cities, such as Seoul, with higher salaries showed a higher frequency. In addition, consumers that were in their forties bought beef more frequently than consumers that were in their twenties. Consumers in Seoul and the megalopolis with a monthly income of higher than 200 million won preferred to purchase meat from department stores and discount markets. In contrast, people in small cities with lower incomes tended to buy meat from butcher shops and brand shops. In a question regarding unsatisfaction factors of retail beef, individuals that were in their thirties with a high income had concerns associated with packaging problems. For people under thirty with low income, the consistency of quality and price were the prime concerns. In regards to the beef grading system, consumer response varied between inhabitants, monthly income and age group, where consumers from small cities that were in their twenties and forties with a low income had a negative viewpoint. For the differential beef distribution system, housewives between the ages of 30 and 40 from a small city with an income higher than 200 million won had a positive response; however, a large number of consumers were not familiar with this system. The most demanding beef cuts were in the following order: loin, flank and rib. In addition, the most important factors determining purchasing beef were as follows: price, breed and portion.