The sensory quality of meat, in particular appearance and texture attributes, influences consumer behaviour. These attributes depend on the one side on animal welfare in farms, and on the other on pre-slaughter handling which is in any case a cause of stress which consequences may lead to economic damages for the whole production chain, consumer included. The objective of this research was to evaluate the influence of animal welfare status on pork quality. The study was carried out on 22 lots of 10 pigs (about 9 months old and 165 kg average alive weight) each one coming from 11 farms. The temperature range observed during transport and lairage was 10-25°C. The activity was performed over 2011 and 2012. To reach the above objective, management indicators of animal welfare were recorded in all the stages before slaughtering. In farms, the farm welfare index (FWI) was calculated. For each lot, the distance and time from the farm to the slaughterhouse were recorded as well as anomalous behavior (slipping, falling and pileups) in loading/unloading operations which was measured by direct observation. After slaughtering, physiological parameters (aldolase, creatine kinase, cortisol levels) as well as pork quality and biochemical indicators (water holding capacity, pH) were measured. Sensory quality of pork was evaluated through the quantitative descriptive analysis (QDA) which describes a complete product profile (appearance, olfactory, taste and flavour-related and textural). From the results it is possible to assume that sensory characteristics of pork, mainly those related to texture and appearance (intramuscular fat (P<0.01), tenderness (P<0.05), juiciness (P<0.05)) improve when the animal welfare indicators were higher. It was observed an increase of green hams haematomas (P<0.05) and blood level of aldolase (P<0.05) when the incidence of abnormal behaviour during loading/unloading operations was higher. Moreover, transport time increases the creatine kinase levels in blood (P<0.05). At slaughterhouse, greater lairage times produced better qualitative parameters of the pork (juiciness (P<0.05) and chewiness (P<0.01)).
Relationship between pork quality and animal welfare status
SARDI, LUCA;NANNONI, ELEONORA;
2013
Abstract
The sensory quality of meat, in particular appearance and texture attributes, influences consumer behaviour. These attributes depend on the one side on animal welfare in farms, and on the other on pre-slaughter handling which is in any case a cause of stress which consequences may lead to economic damages for the whole production chain, consumer included. The objective of this research was to evaluate the influence of animal welfare status on pork quality. The study was carried out on 22 lots of 10 pigs (about 9 months old and 165 kg average alive weight) each one coming from 11 farms. The temperature range observed during transport and lairage was 10-25°C. The activity was performed over 2011 and 2012. To reach the above objective, management indicators of animal welfare were recorded in all the stages before slaughtering. In farms, the farm welfare index (FWI) was calculated. For each lot, the distance and time from the farm to the slaughterhouse were recorded as well as anomalous behavior (slipping, falling and pileups) in loading/unloading operations which was measured by direct observation. After slaughtering, physiological parameters (aldolase, creatine kinase, cortisol levels) as well as pork quality and biochemical indicators (water holding capacity, pH) were measured. Sensory quality of pork was evaluated through the quantitative descriptive analysis (QDA) which describes a complete product profile (appearance, olfactory, taste and flavour-related and textural). From the results it is possible to assume that sensory characteristics of pork, mainly those related to texture and appearance (intramuscular fat (P<0.01), tenderness (P<0.05), juiciness (P<0.05)) improve when the animal welfare indicators were higher. It was observed an increase of green hams haematomas (P<0.05) and blood level of aldolase (P<0.05) when the incidence of abnormal behaviour during loading/unloading operations was higher. Moreover, transport time increases the creatine kinase levels in blood (P<0.05). At slaughterhouse, greater lairage times produced better qualitative parameters of the pork (juiciness (P<0.05) and chewiness (P<0.01)).I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
