Abstract: A method for contact-free determination of quality features of a meat goods test subject provides for determination of a proportional fat-meat ratio of a carcass half. The test subject is illuminated and scanned by a video camera with the meat and fat tissues being distinguished from one another according to relative brightness. Brightness signals from the camera are digitized by comparing the brightness signals with a discrimination-typical threshold value corresponding to a brightness determined such that all brighter and all darker tissue parts respectively deviating above and below the threshold value are represented as white or approximately white image parts and as black or approximately black image parts. The discrimination-typical threshold value is established as a value which is substantially independent of a background brightness associated with the test subject so as to solely distinguish between brightness signals of the meat tissue only.