Evaluation of meat quality traits from European pig production systems in relation to sustainability: An approach

摘要

A set of measurements defined within the Q-PORKCHAINS project was used to assess meat quality traits in 10 pig production systems from 4 European countries. The objective was to evaluate the suitability of meat according to the different market shares in each system in order to integrate meat quality within the global analysis of sustainability of each producing system. The meat quality variables included were meat colour, ultimate pH (pHu), drip losses (DRIP) and intramuscular fat content (IMF). Five meat quality dimensions linked to sustainability and the requirements for good meat quality products for each of the dimensions were defined. The dimensions and requirements were: fresh meat (MLOIN <20mm, pHu 5.5-6.0, colour 2.5-4.0, DRIP ≤5), cooked products (pHu 5.5-6.2, IMF <3%), cured products from high/best value meat cuts (pHu 5.5-6.2, IMF ≥3%), specialties (depending on the product) and other elaborated products (no specific requirements). Preliminary results from 3 production systems showed high levels of suitability in the alternative system A for dry products (77.3%), whereas in alternative system B the percentage of suitable carcasses for dry cured products was 62.3%. The next step is to evaluate the dimensions for all the studied systems and to match suitability with the market shares to obtain global sustainability scorings.