Effect of organic pig production systems on performance and meat quality.

The present study was carried out to establish knowledge of consequence for setting up guidelines of importance for production of competitive organic pork of high quality. Performance and meat quality characteristics were compared between three organic pig production systems based on indoor housing with access to an outdoor area and a Danish conventional indoor system including 100% concentrate during the finishing feeding stage. The three organic systems used the following three feeding regimes: 100% organic concentrate according to Danish recommendations, 70% organic concentrate (restricted) plus ad libitum organic barley/pea silage and 70% organic concentrate (restricted) plus ad libitum organic clover grass silage, respectively. With exception of a slightly lower daily gain in organic pigs fed 100% concentrate, no significant difference was found in performance and meat quality characteristics compared with results obtained in the conventional system. In contrast and independent of roughage used, organic pigs raised on 70% concentrate had a significant reduction in daily gain (P<0.001) compared with pigs raised on 100% concentrate, despite the fact that no difference in feed conversion rate was seen between the tested production systems. However, the percentage of leanness increased significantly in meat from organic pigs raised on 70% concentrate plus roughage compared with meat from pigs given 100% concentrate. This was reflected in higher yield (weight) of lean cuts and lower yield of cuts with high fat content from pigs fed 70% concentrate plus roughage. In general, organic feeding resulted in a significantly higher content of polyunsaturated fatty acids in the back fat (1.8%), which increased further when restricted feeding plus roughage (4%) was used. Restricted concentrate feeding gave rise to a decrease in tenderness compared with pork from pigs fed 100% concentrate.

Consumer and sensory investigations in relation to physical/chemical aspects of cooked pork in Scandinavia.

The present study addresses sensory quality and liking for pork (eight samples) varying in quality due to adrenaline injection resulting in elevated ultimate pH post-slaughter (24h), meat ageing, cooking temperature and warmed-over flavour (WOF) among consumers (n=288) in Scandinavia. The consumers preferred meat with higher pH (pH(24h)=6.0), cooked to the lowest temperature (65 °C versus 80 °C). Consumers least preferred samples with WOF described as metallic, acidic and off-flavour by a trained panel. "Elevated pH(24h) meat" cooked to 65 °C resulted in a more sweet and tender meat. Juiciness, tenderness and the absence of off-flavour were the most important characteristics for consumers' liking of pork. Consumption frequency and liking of pork were positively related. The consumers that were most satisfied with pork quality reported highest consumption frequency. Elderly people and males expressed the highest liking score and consumption frequency, respectively.

An international study on the importance of androstenone and skatole for boar taint: I. Presentation of the programme and measurement of boar taint compounds with different analytical procedures.

An international study, involving 11 participants in 7 European countries, was conducted to provide scientific evidence for an objective measurement of boar taint in entire male pigs and its possible variation between countries. The specific objectives were to determine the respective contributions of androstenone and skatole to boar taint and their possible variations according to production systems and consumer populations. Over 4000 entire male pigs and 200 gilts were raised and slaughtered in 6 countries. Meat samples were taken from the loin and backfat samples were used for the rapid measurement of androstenone and skatole. A sub-population of 377 entire males and 42 gilts was then selected in such a way as to represent all combinations of skatole and androstenone levels. Androstenone and skatole levels in the selected samples were checked, using established reference methods. Meat samples from the selected animals were used for sensory evaluation by trained panels and for consumer surveys in 7 European countries. The present paper gives a general presentation of the programme and reports the main characteristics of the samples. Three companion papers present the results of the evaluation by trained sensory panels [Dijksterhuis, G., Engel, B., Walstra, P., Font i Furnols, M., Agerhem, H., Fisher, K., Oliver, M. A., Claudi-Magnussen, C., Siret, F., Béague, M. P., Homer, D. B., & Bonneau, M. (2000). An international study on the importance of androstenone and skatole for boar taint: II. Sensory evaluation by trained panels in seven European countries. Meat Science54, 261-269], the results of the consumer surveys [Matthews, K. R., Homer, D. B., Punter, P., Béague, M. P., Gispert, M., Kemspter, A. J., Agerhem, H., Claudi-Magnussen, C., Fischer, K., Siret, F., Leask, H., Font i Furnols, M., & Bonneau, M. (2000). An international study on the importance of androstenone and skatole for boar taint: III. Consumer survey in seven European countries. Meat Science, 54, 271-283] and the main conclusions and recommendations [Bonneau, M., Walstra, P., Claudi-Magnussen, C., Kempster, A. J., Tornberg, E., Fischer, K., Diestre, A., Siret, F., Chevillon, P., Claus, R., Dijksterhuis, G., Punter, P., Matthews, K. R., Agerhem, H., Béague, M. P., Oliver, M. A., Gispert, M., Weiler, U., von Seth, G., Leask, H., Font i Furnols, M., Homer, D. B., & Cook, G. L. (2000). An international study on the importance of androstenone and skatole for boar taint: IV. Simulation studies on consumer dissatisfaction with entire male pork and the effect of sorting out carcasses on the slaughter line, main conclusions and recommendations. Meat Science, 54, 285-295]. Seasonal effects and differences between countries in skatole and androstenone levels are presented elsewhere [Walstra, P., Claudi-Magnussen, C., Chevillon, P., von-Seth, G., Diestre, A., Matthews, K. R., Homer, D. B., & Bonneau, M. (in press). An international study on the importance of androstenone and skatole for boar taint: Levels of androstenone and skatole according to country and season. Livestock Production Science]. A supplementary paper considers the effects of human sensitivity to androstenone and skatole on the consumer acceptance of entire male pork [Weiler, U., Font i Furnols, M., Fischer, K., Kemmer, H., Oliver, M. A., Gispert, M., Dobrowolski, A., & Claus, R. (in press). Influence of differences in sensitivity of Spanish and German consumers to perceive androstenone on the acceptance of boar meat differing in skatole and androstenone concentrations. Meat Science]. A study of possible other compounds contributing to boar taint was also carried out within this programme.

An international study on the importance of androstenone and skatole for boar taint: II. Sensory evaluation by trained panels in seven European countries.

The aim of the present study (part of an EU AIR programme on boar taint) was to make objective the perception of boar taint in entire male pork, and to relate the perception to skatole and androstenone levels. Trained analytical sensory panels in seven European countries assessed pig meat with known levels of androstenone and skatole. The panels performed a sensory profiling using the attributes pig, urine, manure/stable, naphthalene/mothballs, rancid, sweet, sweat and abnormal, both for odour and flavour in separate sessions. It turned out to be difficult to harmonise sensory methodology for seven sensory panels throughout the EU, especially with respect to the exact level of training the panellists received. Sensory panels in general were able to differentiate between the two compounds and between different levels of the compounds, though substantial differences between the panels in the different countries existed. Androstenone was found to relate mostly to the urine attribute, while skatole related mostly to manure and, to a lesser extent, to naphthalene.

An international study on the importance of androstenone and skatole for boar taint: III. Consumer survey in seven European countries.

There has long been debate over the relative importance for consumer acceptability of androstenone and skatole. The objective of this study was to investigate consumer reaction to pig meat of varying levels of androstenone and skatole in seven member states of the European Union. Over 4000 entire male pigs (and 233 gilts as a control) were produced in six European countries, and a sub-sample of 420 were selected to represent a range of androstenone and skatole levels. Loin samples from these pigs were distributed to the seven participating countries. Samples were prepared and cooked according to standardised procedures in each of the countries and presented to pork consumers. Each consumer rated samples from five pigs for liking of flavour and liking of odour. Although there were significant differences between country panels in their liking of meat from entire males generally, there was a greater degree of dislike as both androstenone and skatole increased. This reaction was stronger for skatole than androstenone and consumers reacted more negatively in terms of odour than flavour.

An international study on the importance of androstenone and skatole for boar taint: IV. Simulation studies on consumer dissatisfaction with entire male pork and the effect of sorting carcasses on the slaughter line, main conclusions and recommendations.

An international study has been conducted in order to determine the respective contributions of androstenone and skatole to boar taint and their possible variations according to production systems and consumer populations. The presentation of the study and the main results concerning skatole and androstenone levels and data from sensory evaluation or consumer surveys are reported in companion papers. The present paper summarises the main conclusions of the study and gives tentative recommendations. A simulation study was conducted, based on the skatole and androstenone levels currently observed in European populations of entire male pigs and on the results of the consumer surveys. The first part of the simulation study demonstrated that, overall, 6.5% (odour) and 3.0% (flavour) more consumers were dissatisfied with entire male than with gilt pork. The differences were, however, very variable according to countries. Consumer dissatisfaction for the odour of entire male pork was mostly associated with high skatole levels, while androstenone had little influence on it. On the other hand, androstenone and skatole had similar contributions to the level of dissatisfaction for flavour. From the present study it is not possible to determine clear cut-off levels for androstenone/skatole. The regression equations presented in [Matthews, K. R., Homer, D. B., Punter, P., Béague, M. P., Gispert, M., Siret, F., Leask, H., Fonti i Furnols, M., & Bonneau, M. (2000). An international study on the importance of androstenone, skatole for boar taint: III. Consumer survey in seven European countries. Meat Science, 54, 271-283] provide a basis for decision making. However, due to methodological limitations, the results may underestimate consumer reaction to entire male pork. The second part of the simulation study demonstrated that sorting carcasses on the basis of androstenone/skatole would reduce, but not eliminate, differences in consumer dissatisfaction between entire male and gilt pork. For odour, taking androstenone into account did not improve the efficiency obtained from sorting using skatole only. For flavour, sorting using both compounds was more efficient than sorting using skatole only. Sorting out 15% of the entire males, on the basis of skatole only, would result in a difference in the proportion of dissatisfied consumers of 4.2% (odour) or 2.0% (flavour) between entire male and gilt pork. The results of the last part of the simulation study demonstrated that decreasing skatole in entire male pig populations, to levels as low as 0.10 ppm, would still result in a difference in the proportion of dissatisfied consumers of 3.2% (odour) or 1.6% (flavour). To reduce this difference further, the levels of both compounds would have to be reduced still further. The lowest difference that can be achieved is 2.3% (odour) or 0.4% (flavour). The conclusions of the present study may differ according to whether immediate commercial applications or long-term goals are considered. On the basis of the skatole and androstenone levels currently observed in entire male pig populations, sorting out procedures based on skatole is the easiest way to rapidly achieve a significant decrease in consumer dissatisfaction with entire male pork. In most countries, however, this will not be sufficient to obtain the same level of acceptability as with gilts. In the long term, a sharp reduction in both skatole and androstenone would have to be achieved in entire male pig populations to obtain low differences in acceptability between entire male and gilt pork.