ABSTRACT
In compliance with EC Directives, in Dutch slaughterhouses veal carcasses are classi¤ed on the basis of three factors: conformation, fatness, and color. Of these factors, color has become a very important parameter in the pricing system, involving both the farmers who breed the animals and buyers who deliver the meat to the consumer market. In the past 20 years, major e•orts have been put into the development of a reliable color classi¤cation system for veal carcasses. Such a system is necessary to guarantee uniform classi¤cation results among the di•erent slaughterhouses in the Netherlands, but also to provide a sound basis for international trading since the majority of veal meat produced in the Netherlands is exported to other countries. In this ¤eld, the Netherlands has a leading global position.
