Objective assessment of pork quality.

Area of Science:

• Meat Science
• Animal Science
• Food Quality Assessment

Background:

• Pork quality is a critical factor for consumers and the meat industry.
• Objective measurement methods are needed to reliably assess pork quality.
• Variations in post-mortem conditions significantly impact meat characteristics.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate several objective methods for estimating pork quality.
• To determine the correlation between different objective measurements.
• To identify key indicators for differentiating pork quality categories (normal, PSE, DFD).

Main Methods:

• Measurements included internal light scattering (FOP), electrical conductivity (EC), pH, color, water holding capacity (WHC), soluble proteins (SP), pigment, intramuscular fat (i.m. fat), and moisture.
• Analyses were performed on Semimembranosus (SM) and Longissimus thoracis (LT) muscles at 45 min and 24 h post-mortem.
• Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was used to analyze the dataset.

Main Results:

• Most measured parameters significantly differed between normal, PSE (pale, soft, exudative), and DFD (dark, firm, dry) pork.
• Strong correlations were observed between pH values in SM and LT muscles (r=0.74 at 45 min, r=0.71 at 24 h).
• Early post-mortem (45 min) EC showed moderate correlations with FOP (r=0.56) and pH (r=0.48). PCA indicated pH(45) and EC(45) as key variables explaining 60.3% of variation.

Conclusions:

• Objective methods, particularly early post-mortem pH and EC, are valuable for assessing pork quality.
• These methods can effectively distinguish between normal, PSE, and DFD pork.
• The study highlights the importance of timely measurements for reliable pork quality evaluation.