The effect of pre-slaughter showering and post-slaughter rapid chilling on meat quality in intact pork sides

Thirty pairs of Landrace or Large White pigs were used to determine the effects of pre- and post-slaughter cooling treatments on pork quality and yield. One animal from each pair was showered in cold water and after slaughter one side from each carcass was rapidly chilled and the other side was conventionally chilled. Two experiments were carried out in winter: they examined different times of exposure to cooling treatments; a further experiment was carried out in summer time. Showering caused a reduction in the temperature of the deep loin at 40 min post mortem (P < 0·01). Rapid chilling caused a further reduction in carcass temperature and the rate of pH fall was lower (P < 0·05) in the rapidly chilled sides. There was a strong indication that showering in the winter time lowered drip loss in slices of Longissimus dorsi muscle (P = 0·077) whereas showering in the summer time was not effective. Shower water temperature may have been important in this regard. Showering did not lower drip loss in intact pork legs. Rapid chilling was not effective in lowering drip loss in either slices of Longissimus dorsi or intact pork legs. Rapid chilling at -20°C for 3 h without an air blast lowered evaporative chill losses in sides of pork by 27-29% (P < 0·1) compared to normal chilling. Reduced treatments gave reduced effects. Neither treatment had any significant effect on cooking loss or toughness in broiled slices of pork Longissimus dorsi muscle.