Consumer acceptance of minced meat patties from boars in four European countries.

A consumer study was performed in four EU countries to further clarify the acceptability of meat with boar taint. In Denmark, France, Italy and Poland, a total of 476 female consumers evaluated 8 meat patties from boars with varying levels of skatole (0.10-0.40µg/g fat tissue) and androstenone (0.47-2.00 µg/g fat tissue), in a pair-wise comparison with patties from castrates. Boar meat patties were always less preferred than the castrate meat patties, regardless of the level of androstenone and skatole. Acceptability of the boar meat patties decreased with increasing skatole level. In samples with low skatole levels, higher levels of androstenone also reduced acceptability among androstenone sensitive consumers. No clear threshold levels for androstenone and skatole could be identified. Maps presenting the reduction in preference due to increasing levels of skatole and androstenone, and corrected for the general acceptance of the meat product were developed, taking into account androstenone sensitivity. Further work is needed, covering the whole range of androstenone and skatole levels found in entire male pigs and for a wider set of meat products.

Russian and Chinese consumers' acceptability of boar meat patties depending on their sensitivity to androstenone and skatole.

The aim of this work was to study the sensitivity of Chinese and Russian female consumers to androstenone and skatole and to identify their preference for pork patties from entire male pigs compared with those from castrated pigs. One-hundred-twenty women in each country were enrolled. The sensitivity of the consumers to both compounds was tested using smell strips and triangular tests. Pairwise tests were performed comparing patties from castrated male pigs with patties from boars with different levels of androstenone and skatole. Approximately 70% of the Russian and 60% of the Chinese consumers were sensitive to skatole and 37% and 32% were sensitive to androstenone, respectively. Nevertheless, a higher percentage of sensitive Russian consumers compared to Chinese consumers disliked the smell of both compounds. In Russia, the consumers' preferences were higher for patties with low levels of both compounds, while no differences were found in China. In both countries, consumers who were sensitive to skatole also preferred patties with low levels of both compounds. Thus, the levels of androstenone and skatole affect boar patty preferences.

Improved animal welfare, the right technology and increased business.

Animal welfare is receiving increasing attention from the authorities, the public and NGOs. For this reason, the improvement of animal welfare and animal handling systems is of the utmost importance for the meat industry. Technological developments have led to more animal friendly systems that handle animals on the day of slaughter, and these developments will be even more important as consideration for animal welfare and sustainability is no longer just a trend but a licence to operate. Improvement of animal welfare also leads to a higher value of the carcasses due to higher product quality, less cut-off caused by fewer injuries, and reduced working load, which leads to increased business opportunities. Therefore, good animal welfare is good business, and the development and implementation of new technology is the way to obtain improved animal welfare. These subjects will be addressed using examples and cases from the pork and broiler production industry.

Scandinavian consumer preference for beef steaks packed with or without oxygen.

Beef steaks retail-packed with (80% O(2), 20% CO(2)) or without oxygen (either skin-packed or gas-packed (69.6% N(2), 30% CO(2), 0.04% CO or 70% N(2), 30% CO(2))) were compared by consumers in Denmark (n=382), Norway (n=316) and Sweden (n=374). Two pairs of two steaks - one steak packed in a high oxygen atmosphere and one packed without oxygen - were given to the consumers. They were instructed to prepare the steaks at home on two consecutive days, and two persons had to taste each steak. In Denmark, the oxygen-free packing was either gas packing with CO (69.6% N(2), 30% CO(2), 0.04% CO) or without CO (70% N(2), 30% CO(2)), in Norway it was either gas packing with CO (69.6% N(2), 30% CO(2), 0.04% CO) or skin packing, and in Sweden it was either skin packing or gas packing without CO (70% N(2), 30% CO(2)). The meat represented animals that were between 17 and 80 months old (Denmark) and young bulls (Norway and Sweden). Consumers in all three countries clearly preferred steaks packed without oxygen, in terms of overall liking, willingness to pay and their preferred choice of one steak. Furthermore, they preferred the oxygen-free steaks in terms of both overall liking and liking of tenderness, juiciness and flavour. In Sweden, many consumers would pay more than usual for the skin-packed steak, and it was more often chosen as the preferred steak out of the four compared with gas-packed without oxygen. No difference was seen between the two oxygen-free packing methods in Denmark and Norway.

Compensatory growth improves meat tenderness in gilts but not in barrows.

Compensatory growth is a phenomenon observed in pigs given free access to feed following a period of restricted feeding that results in increased growth rates. Compensatory growth is believed to increase protein turnover and thereby the proteolytic potential at the time of slaughter, leading to faster tenderization rates of meat. Nine litters of three gilts and three barrows were allocated within litter and gender to three dietary treatment groups. Pigs had ad libitum access to feed from d 28 to slaughter at d 140 (ALA) or were restricted to 69% ad libitum from d 28 to d 80 or 90, and then given ad libitum access to the diet until slaughter at d 140 (RA80 and RA90, respectively). Pigs in the RA80 and RA90 treatment groups had a 9.7% higher (P < or = 0.001) fractional growth rate in the second feeding period than those in the ALA group. Growth rate was correlated to the activity of m-calpain (r = 0.37; P < or = 0.01), beta-glucuronidase (r = 0.48; P < or = 0.001), and cathepsins B (r = 0.47; P < or = 0.001) and B+L (r = 0.31; P < or = 0.04). The LM of RA80-gilts received higher tenderness scores than the LM of ALA gilts, but tenderness scores were similar among barrows regardless of treatment (gender x treatment; P = 0.02). Conversely, tenderness scores were higher for the biceps femoris of ALA barrows than either ALA gilts or RA90 barrows (gender x treatment; P = 0.02). Desmin and troponin-T degradation, as well as myofibrillar fragmentation index, of the LM were not (P > or = 0.24) affected by treatment. No dietary treatment effects were observed on the activities of mu-calpain (P = 0.15), m-calpain (P = 0.74), or calpastatin (P = 0.91) at slaughter. The cathepsin inhibitors, cystatins, tended to be increased (P = 0.06) in RA80 and RA90 pigs. Sarcomere length was longer (P = 0.003) in the LM of gilts than barrows. Barrows in the RA80 group had lower i.m. fat concentrations than ALA; however, no differences were found in the LM of gilts (gender x treatment; P = 0.03). The underlying hypothesis that compensatory growth leads to an increased proteolytic potential at the time of slaughter could not be verified in this study.

Low stress pre-slaughter handling: effect of lairage time on the meat quality of pork.

The effect of lairage time on meat quality was investigated when crossbred pigs were subjected to low stress pre-slaughter handling, where pigs were treated in mixed groups of 15 from the farm to group CO(2) stunning, and where electric goads were not used at any time. Two experiments were carried out, one in spring (n=270) using very standardised conditions and one producer, and one in summer (n=630) using a representative randomly chosen sample of producers. In the first experiment three lairage times were used, less than 30 min (average 26 min), 90 min (average 83 min) and more than 150 min (average 170 min) and no showering. The pH and temperature were measured in the m. longissimus dorsi at various times post mortem, and colour (L(*), a(*), b(*)), internal reflectance and drip loss the day after slaughter. Sensory evaluation was carried out on 16 randomly chosen samples from the shortest and longest lairage time groups. Drip loss, pH(ultimate) and internal reflectance were also measured in the m. biceps femoris and pH(ultimate) and internal reflectance in the m. semimembranosus. Finally, pH(ultimate) was measured in the m. semispinalis capitis. In the second experiment only two lairage times were used, less than 30 min (average 17 min) and more than 130 min (average 150 min) and with intermittent showering and only a subset of the meat quality measurements were made. Lairage time had no effect on any of the meat quality parameters measured in experiment 1. In experiment 2 the shortest lairage time led to a higher temperature in the m. longissimus dorsi at 2 min post mortem, a higher drip loss in the m. biceps femoris and higher internal reflectance values in both muscles the day after slaughter. The differences were, however, very small and may have been an effect of showering.

The effect of stress during lairage and stunning on muscle metabolism and drip loss in Danish pork.

The effect on meat quality of a low stress handling system (LSS) compared with a traditional handling system (TS) was investigated in Duroc×(Landrace×Yorkshire; n=117) and (Hampshire×Duroc)×(Landrace×Yorkshire) pigs (n=110) under commercial conditions. In the low-stress handling system the pigs were kept in groups of 15 during lairage and movement up to the stunner. Before the stunner the groups were divided into three groups of five pigs for the CO(2)-stunning in a specially designed set-up. The pH and temperature were determined in m. longissimus dorsi (LD) and m. biceps femoris (BF) at various times post mortem. Immediately after exsanguination a biopsy was taken from the LD and analysed for the concentration of glycogen, lactate and creatine phosphate. The day after slaughter the pH was determined in the LD, BF, m. semimembranosus (SM) and m. semispinalis capitis (SC). The temperature was determined in the LD and BF, the internal reflectance was determined in the LD, SM and BF, the colour was determined in LD, the drip loss was determined in LD and BF, and the amount of blood splashing/bruising was evaluated in LD. There was a tendency for a higher concentration of creatine phosphate in the LSS-group (P=0.06). The pH in both the LD and BF on the day of slaughter decreased more slowly from 5 min post mortem to 40 min post mortem in the LSS-group than in the TS-group (P<0.001). From 40 min to 6 h post mortem the rate of the pH decline was similar in the two groups producing the lowest pH-level in the TS group. The day after slaughter the pH was similar in the two groups in the LD and SC, whereas in the BF and SM it was lower in the LSS-group than in the TS-group. The drip loss was lower in the LSS-group in both LD (P<0.01) and BF (P<0.05) whereas the internal reflectance was only different in LD with the lowest value in the LSS-group (P<0.001). The lightness (L*) was higher in the LSS-group (P<0.05). There was no effect of stunning system on the amount of blood splashing/bruishing in the LD. The study showed that by using a low stress stunning system it is possible to decrease drip loss, possibly by increasing the concentration of creatine phosphate and thereby delaying the acceleration of pH fall in muscles after death.

Pathological and radiological investigations on osteochondrosis in pigs, associated with leg weakness.

Two-hundred and seventy-eight Danish Landrace boars were examined radiologically and pathologically for osteochondrosis and other joint lesions on the left legs at slaughter (95 kg). The joint changes were scored on a scale from 1 (normal) to 5 (very severe changes/osteochondritis dissecans). The correlations between radiological and pathological scores were highly significant in the humeral condyles (r = 0.66, P < 0.001), the distal ulna growth plate (r = 0.51, P < 0.001), the femoral condyles (r = 0.33, P < 0.001) and hock (distal tibia (r = 0.17, P < 0.01) and the medial trochlear ridge of the talus (r = 0.17, P < 0.01), indicating that radiographical examination is a useful method for diagnosing osteochondrosis in live pigs. Thickening of cartilage was strongly associated with subchondrial lesions in the three predilection sites: the humeral condyle, the femoral condyles and the distal ulna growth plate. Osteochondritis dissecans (OCD) in the humeral condyles was significantly associated with subchondral lesions (OR = 1.86; P < 0.001), but not with cartilage thickness when analysed simultaneously. There were no associations between lesions in the distal ulna growth plate, the humeral condyles, the femoral condyles or the anconeal process. There was no significant correlation between OCD in the humeral condyles and the anconeal process. Osteochondrosis could therefore not be stated to be a generalized disorder. Regression coefficients between joint changes and leg weakness symptoms judged before slaughter were very small and showed no clear trends. OCD in the humeral condyles was, however, significantly associated with 'legs turned out on fore (OR = 2.48; P < 0.001) and hind (OR = 1.62; P < 0.05) legs', and OCD in the anconeal process with 'stiff movement in front' (OR = 2.01; P < 0.05). Osteochondrosis is thus comparable with a threshold trait, where the threshold is the development of an OCD in an osteochondrosis injured joint.