engleski

Different understandings of pork quality - a historical overview

This paper addresses the various interpretations of pork quality and its changes with the development of scientific methods, pork industry requirements, and changing consumer opinions on pork and pork products. Pork quality has been under the scrutiny of scientific studies for almost three quarters of a century. Various interpretations of the term have led to considerable confusion not only among pig producers and processors, but even more often among the consumers. Since the early days of meat quality characterisation and evaluation, the relationship between the rate of pH change post- mortem, colour and water holding capacity of the pig muscle has been considered as the main determinant of the meat status of pigs. In the meanwhile, the number of meat traits and the methods to measure them have increased considerably with the continuous development of scientific methods and equipment. The multidimensionality of meat quality is reflected in the interaction of genetic make-up of the pigs, rearing conditions, manipulations during the transport and slaughter, and post mortal changes in the transformation of muscle into meat. This makes quality of pork a very complex phenotypic trait. The aim of this paper is to present the historical development of the concept of pork quality, from the first observations of differences in muscle structure characterised by water-holding capacity and colour to the development of biomarkers as regulators of animal phenotypes.

pig ; meat ; quality traits

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