The effect of two handling and slaughter systems on skin damage, meat acidification and colour in pigs

In order to minimize the high proportion of carcass and meat quality defects recorded in commercially slaughtered pigs, the optimum handling, stunning and bleeding-out conditions must be implemented. In this study improvements in pig handling resulted in the elimination of electric goading within the raceways, which reduced the skin blemish score by 50%. Furthermore, the application of higher stunning voltage (200 V) and the immediate bleeding-out in the prone position improved the post-mortem acidification rate in the Longissimus thoracis (LT) and Semimembranosus (SM) muscles. This resulted in a sharp reduction of the PSE incidence in both muscles. A positive effect on muscle metabolism was also showed by the lower release of CPK into the bloodflow. These results show that, under commercial conditions, the design of slaughter handling systems and the slaughter procedures can have an effect on skin damage and on the quality of the pig meat.