FATTY ACID COMPOSITION AND MEAT QUALITY TRAITS BETWEEN ORGANICALLY AND CONVENTIONALLY REARED KOREAN BLACK PIGS

摘要

IntroductionEconomic pressure on pig industry has resulted in intensive production system in order to decrease production costs. In recent years, animal health, welfare and environment-friendly production have been more and more attracted public concern. Furthermore, the production of lean meat to meet consumers' demands for low-fat pork has resulted in a substantial decrease of intramuscular fat levels and an increased concern that eating quality may be consequently reduced (Cisneros et al., 1996). To face these new challenges, alternative production methods, such as organic livestock farming have been developed. Organic fanning puts more emphasis on the production system to meet the demands of a specific consumer segment (Sundrum, 1998). According to the basic standards of IFOAM (1996), organic livestock farming is primarily based on home-grown feedstuffs with the objective of establishing an almost complete on-farm nutrient cycle. The fatty acid composition of the porcine intramuscular fat (IMF) has been shown to be affected by feed composition as reviewed by Bosi (1999). Previous studies have shown that conventional pork is often more tender than pork from organic pork production systems due to lower daily gain in organic production (Danielsen et al., 2000). Moreover, the amount of intramuscular fat in organic pork has been reported to be higher, and the fatty acid composition to be more unsaturated compared with meat from traditionally reared pigs (Hansen et al., 2001). This may result in inferior technological meat quality due to enhanced lipid oxidation and presence of soft fat (Nilzen et al., 2001). Consequently, introduction of organic pig production systems calls for establishment of quality assurance programs that ensure production of high quality pork, as demanded by the organic consumer segment. The objective of the present study was to investigate the effects of organic and conventional feed, on fatty acid composition and meat quality traits in muscle of Korean black pigs.