Manufacture of finely comminuted meat products are operations that require improved control to produce stable products. Emulsion breakdown becomes evident during the cooking process, when it is too late for corrective actions. Two different emulsion formulations that produced high or low cooking loss tendencies were prepared. Emulsion ingredients were chopped and the mixture was sampled at different time intervals. CIELAB coordinates of each sample were measured and the samples cooked to determine cooking loss and gel firmness. L* values increased at the beginning of chopping, which was accompanied with increased gel firmness (P < 0.01) and reduced cooking loss (P < 0.001). After 8 min of chopping (emulsion temperature >= 22 degrees C) a reduction in L* and b* values and in emulsion firmness was observed simultaneously with increasing cooking losses. These results suggest the feasibility of an on-line optical sensor technology to predict the optimum endpoint of emulsification in the manufacture of finely comminuted meat products. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.