Potassium Content of Carcass Components and Internal Organs of Cattle as Determined by K and Atomic Absorption Spectrometry

The water, fat and potassium content was determined in 36 boned, ground meat samples. The meat samples included composites from sides of 12 beef steers and eight wholesale cuts from each of three mature dairy cows. Potassium content was estimated by atomic absorption spectrometry and gamma-ray spectrometry or radioactive 40K. The potassium contents were not significantly different among the wholesale cuts from the three cows or among cows. However, there were significant differences in potassium from the mean of 26 individual meat samples. The potassium content of the meat samples was more variable and had a higher negative correlation coefficient with fat percent when estimated by the 40K counting method than when estimated by atomic absorption spectrometry. The potassium content of adipose tissue was highly variable when expressed on a fresh tissue basis or a fat-free dry basis. The variation was not closely related to either fat or water content. The mean potassium content of internal organs of cattle was approximately the same as the mean potassium content of meat samples, but there was considerably more variation among the organs than among the meat samples.