Multifractal Characterization of Apple Pore and Ham Fat-Connective Tissue Size Distributions Using Image Analysis

Abstract

Pore size distribution (PSD) in apple tissue and fat-connective size distribution (FSD) in hams are the fundamental physical properties analyzed in assessing their quality. In apple tissue, PSD is related to the mass-transport phenomena characteristics and complexity of oxygen (O2) and carbon dioxide (CO2) diffusivity, and in the case of hams, FSD is related to sensory properties such as texture, taste, quality of raw meat, and visual appearance. In both food products, accurate representation of these microstructural properties is needed for an objective quality characterization and prediction during apple preservation and ham formulation. This chapter gives an overview of the multifractal theory as applied to natural objects and systems and illustrates in two examples the applications of this approach for characterizing contrasting PSD in apple tissue and FSD in cooked pork ham images. The identification of potential multifractal parameters, such as D 0, D 0, α(0) − α(1), α(−1) − α(0), D 0 − D 1, f[α(−1)] − D 0, and D 1/D 0, as well as multifractal spectrums, such as $$ f\left(\alpha \right) $$ -spectra and Dq-spectra, which are useful for quality characterization and classification of these samples, will be the final aim.