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I knew some meat cuts were iridescent, never knew why. I only have one question: “A commercial pork (Sus scrofa domesticus) loin sample was supplied by the co

I knew some meat cuts were iridescent, never knew why. I only have one question: “A commercial pork (Sus scrofa domesticus) loin sample was supplied by the commercial processing facility (Morliny Sopocka, Animex, Warsaw, Poland).” Does this mean they asked the facility for a meat sample directly, or is it the science-speak for “we bought the meat at the nearest grocery store”? The photos suggest the latter, but if so, why not just write it so?

SamBam 2y ago
I'm unsure how a photo of a loin chop suggests it was bought at the nearest grocery store. It didn't have a package with a grocery store name. It says it came from a commercial meat processing facility, and I don't see any reason to doubt it. These facilities pre-butcher and package the meat, and are then sent out to grocery stores or wherever. I assume they got it straight from the source to avoid any potential confounding effects of a grocery store keeping the meat out of refrigeration, or mislabeling the dates, or whatever.
- ansgri 2y ago
  Based on my experience in academia in my country, and from what I read about academia worldwide, I'd say it was indeed very likely bought from ordinary store, since it's not a department dealing specifically with food (thus having convenient access to samples). Often a group of researchers just looks for a random important-sounding subject to apply whatever methods they are familiar with and don't think much about the domain they're getting into. Sometimes the result turns out interesting, more often they publish it wherever they can and move on.
  - SamBam 2y ago
    Except that they literally said "was supplied by the commercial processing facility." I don't see any reason to doubt their word. And as someone who also works in academia, in the kind of mushy low-budget research that these folks might be in, I take issue with the idea that we assume they couldn't just pick up the phone and call the meat processing plant. It's really not hard to do. I've randomly bought fish from fish processing plants, for my own personal consumption, and I didn't even have a grant and a grad student to do it.
pvaldes 2y ago
To assure that the meat was never wrapped in plastic probably. A fact important to avoid artifacts on the methodology.
LegitShady 2y ago
processing facility generally doesn't mean grocery store, but the facility that butchers slaughtered animals into cuts. Potentially it could be a butcher.

SamBam 2y ago

I'm unsure how a photo of a loin chop suggests it was bought at the nearest grocery store. It didn't have a package with a grocery store name. It says it came from a commercial meat processing facility, and I don't see any reason to doubt it. These facilities pre-butcher and package the meat, and are then sent out to grocery stores or wherever. I assume they got it straight from the source to avoid any potential confounding effects of a grocery store keeping the meat out of refrigeration, or mislabeling the dates, or whatever.

ansgri 2y ago
Based on my experience in academia in my country, and from what I read about academia worldwide, I'd say it was indeed very likely bought from ordinary store, since it's not a department dealing specifically with food (thus having convenient access to samples). Often a group of researchers just looks for a random important-sounding subject to apply whatever methods they are familiar with and don't think much about the domain they're getting into. Sometimes the result turns out interesting, more often they publish it wherever they can and move on.
- SamBam 2y ago
  Except that they literally said "was supplied by the commercial processing facility." I don't see any reason to doubt their word. And as someone who also works in academia, in the kind of mushy low-budget research that these folks might be in, I take issue with the idea that we assume they couldn't just pick up the phone and call the meat processing plant. It's really not hard to do. I've randomly bought fish from fish processing plants, for my own personal consumption, and I didn't even have a grant and a grad student to do it.

pvaldes 2y ago

To assure that the meat was never wrapped in plastic probably. A fact important to avoid artifacts on the methodology.

LegitShady 2y ago

processing facility generally doesn't mean grocery store, but the facility that butchers slaughtered animals into cuts. Potentially it could be a butcher.