Eating quality of meat from pigs given the beta-adrenergic agonist salbutamol

Meat from pigs given the beta-adrenergic agonist Salbutamol was assessed by a trained taste panel. Overall, there were no significant effects of Salbutamol on panel scores for pork flavour, foreign flavour or overall acceptability. Although the differences were also not significant, meat from treated pigs was rated slightly tougher (P = 0·10) but more juicy (P = 0·14) than that from untreated animals. This concurred with higher instrumental values for toughness although the correlation between taste panel and instrumental texture measurements was low (r = 0·36, P < 0·001).