Acceptability of Accelerated-Processed Pork ¹

Five market hogs were slaughtered to determine the microbial, organoleptic and appearance differences between accelerated and conventionally processed pork. The left side of each carcass was processed 4 h after slaughter, whereas the right side was fabricated at 24-h postmortem. Microbial sampling was conducted. Appearance and organoleptic characteristics were evaluated. Conventionally processed cuts of pork were rated higher for color and overall appearance than the accelerated-processed cuts until 120 h. Taste panel data revealed no significant difference in tenderness and juiciness between the accelerated and conventionally processed cuts. Differences in microbial load between the two processes after 120 h of storage were negligible; however, the accelerated processed cuts had a higher microbial load than the conventionally processed cuts except at 120 h. No measurable differences were found in the genera of microorganisms among samples from the accelerated and conventional methods. TBA values suggested little difference in rancidity between the two processes. Differences between the accelerated and the conventionally processed samples of pork were not enough to merit the preference of pork from one processing technique over the other method.