An important goal for characterization of texture appearance is the quantification of spatial patterns. The objective was to investigate the potential usefulness of two fractal metrics based on fast Fourier transform and gliding box lacunarity as descriptors of visual texture in ham slices. Images were acquired from three qualities of sliced pork ham, typically consumed in Ireland (200 slices/quality). Unexpected characteristics in textural pattern were revealed; the values of fractal dimension were larger for the smoothest surface. Alternatively, the decreasing trend of the power spectrum intercept towards the smoother premium quality ham showed that it correlates well with the overall magnitude of visual roughness. The results of lacunarity suggest that it has a discriminating power among the three ham qualities and its behaviour resembles the one of an exponential decay function. Results showed that Fourier analysis dimension, power spectrum intercept and lacunarity are important fractal parameters and useful quantitative descriptors that capture information embedded in the spatial structure of the underlying image texture of hams. © 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.