Sensory evaluation of meat colour using photographs.

Five m. longissimus thoracis steaks from different breeds, purchased at retail, were cut into samples and simultaneously photographed under standard shooting conditions. The first photo was taken on samples just arrived at the laboratory, the second one on a freshly cut surface after blooming. Two consumer panels evaluated beef colour using respectively photo 1 and photo 2. Each consumer was asked to rank samples in order of preference. Rank sums were evaluated with Fridman's test. Immediately after taking the photos, colour was measured with a colorimeter. Regarding photo 1, consumers were able to discriminate one sample, the worst, from all the others. Concerning photo 2, consumers discriminated the worst sample, as in photo 1, but also the best one. Therefore a more accurate colour evaluation can be obtained if the assessment is carried out on a fresh cut surface after blooming. In general consumers preferred samples with high lightness and a relatively high yellowness. The sensory evaluation of meat colour using photographs is a promising tool to overcome the difficulties when the meat is directly evaluated. But it is very important to standardize the shooting conditions to obtain a true reproduction of the meat. For this purpose the use of a colour target is useful to check the validity of the adopted parameters

STRUCTURAL FUNDS AND REGIONAL CONVERGENCE. SOME SECTORAL ESTIMATES FOR ITALY*

Abstract: In this paper we put to test the impact of the European Structural Funds on the economies of the 20 Italian administrative regions for the 1989-2006 period. The main elements of novelty are that the empirical analysis is carried out by considering separately four sectors (agriculture, energy and manufacturing, construction, services), and that a non-parametric FDH-VP approach is used in order to calculate some Malmquist index numbers of productivity. This allows separating the Funds' effects on factor accumulation from those on total productivity changes. Our evidence implies that the Funds had a weak, but significant, impact on total factor productivity change, but virtually no effect on capital accumulation and employment. Different kinds of Structural Funds are found to have widely different influences, with the European Social Fund, arguably, wielding the strongest impact. (JEL: C43, D24)