Consumer acceptability of entire male pork at eating was assessed in three experiments. The 140 consumers involved in each experiment were classified as insensitive (INSENS) to the odor of pure ...androstenone or sensitive perceiving it as pleasant (SENS-PLEA) or unpleasant (SENS-UNPL). Entire male pork with very low skatole and androstenone levels (LS-LA) was as well accepted as gilt pork, whatever the consumer category. Entire male pork with elevated levels in both skatole and androstenone (HS-HA) was clearly differentiated from LS-LA pork by SENS-UNPL, but not by SENS-PLEA or INSENS consumers. Whatever the consumer category, entire male pork with elevated levels of androstenone and very low levels of skatole (LS-HA and LS-HHA) were not significantly differentiated from LS-LA pork. The results suggest that, in the conditions of the present experiment, androstenone and skatole totally explain boar taint at eating and that the acceptability threshold for androstenone, in the absence of skatole, is in the range of 2–3
μg/g liquid fat.
► Consumer acceptability of entire male pork at eating. ► Entire male pork with very low skatole and androstenone levels as good as gilt pork. ► Boar taint perceived only by consumers that smell pure androstenone as unpleasant. ► In the absence of skatole, androstenone acceptability threshold is about 2–3
μg/g.
A consumer study was performed in four EU countries to further clarify the acceptability of meat with boar taint. In Denmark, France, Italy and Poland, a total of 476 female consumers evaluated 8 ...meat patties from boars with varying levels of skatole (0.10–0.40μg/g fat tissue) and androstenone (0.47–2.00 μg/g fat tissue), in a pair-wise comparison with patties from castrates. Boar meat patties were always less preferred than the castrate meat patties, regardless of the level of androstenone and skatole. Acceptability of the boar meat patties decreased with increasing skatole level. In samples with low skatole levels, higher levels of androstenone also reduced acceptability among androstenone sensitive consumers. No clear threshold levels for androstenone and skatole could be identified. Maps presenting the reduction in preference due to increasing levels of skatole and androstenone, and corrected for the general acceptance of the meat product were developed, taking into account androstenone sensitivity. Further work is needed, covering the whole range of androstenone and skatole levels found in entire male pigs and for a wider set of meat products.
•Consumer and expert panel evaluations were closely correlated with skatole.•At low skatole level, preference for boar meat patties decreased with increasing androstenone level.•Effect of androstenone level was only significant for androstenone sensitive consumers.•A map presenting the reduction in preference depending on the level of androstenone and skatole was developed.•No clear threshold/rejection level for skatole or androstenone could be determined.
In Europe the proportion of male pigs that are left ‘entire’ has been high for many years in the British Isles and Iberian Peninsula, and has recently increased in The Netherlands and to a lesser ...extent in Germany and France. Various European Union partners agreed in 2010 on a road map to abandon piglet castration by 1 January 2018. Despite significant commercial in-confidence research on instrumental methods for detecting boar-tainted carcasses at slaughter plants, nothing is currently being adopted at an industrial scale. A few abattoirs sort out the most heavily tainted carcasses, using human nose methods. However, there are major concerns with their accuracy, which is currently not documented in any publicly available technical report. The importance of androstenone and skatole for boar taint is still debated but a recent study (CAMPIG; G Backus, H Snoek, MA Oliver, M Font i Furnols, M Aluwé, F Tuyttens, M Bonneau, P Chevillon, MD Aaslyng, D Moerlein, L Meier-Dinkel, J Trautmann, J-E Haugen, unpubl. data) has established preliminary equations relating consumer dissatisfaction to androstenone and skatole levels. These equations still need further consolidation to integrate the impact of very high and very low androstenone levels on consumer acceptability. Reducing the incidence of boar taint at a production level and at the same time overcoming possible greater aggressive behaviour of entire male pigs are also critical for abandoning castration. Genetic selection is the most efficient way to reduce androstenone, but the selection of boar-taint-free genetic lines without any adverse consequence on the reproductive and growth performance will take time. Skatole levels can be efficiently reduced via feeding specific feedstuffs and good control of the animals’ environment. Provided that the incidence of boar taint can be reduced to an acceptable level and the residual tainted carcasses can be sorted out at a reasonable price by mutually recognised methods, the abandonment of castration will result in high benefits, up to one-billion euros for both the pork industry, via a drastic reduction of production costs, and society at large, through improved animal welfare and reduced impact on the environment.
Two consumer studies were conducted to know the acceptability of pork with different boar taint levels: test 1 performed in Spain (n=126) and United Kingdom (n=146), and test 2 performed in France ...(n=139) and Italy (n=140). Each test had 3 types of pork: ‘Female meat’, ‘Low boar tainted meat’, and a third type was ‘Medium boar tainted meat’ or ‘High boar tainted meat’. Three main clusters were identified on the basis of ‘How delicious do you find this meat?’: 1—Pork lovers, 2—Boar meat lovers, 3—Reject boar tainted meat. Additionally, in test 2, a fourth cluster was identified: ‘Reject low tainted meat’. A group of 16.2–38.2% of consumers rejected meat from boars, and another group of 12.4–21.7% rated the meat with medium or high levels of boar taint better than the meat from females, identifying a niche for meat from medium and high levels of boar taint, and suggesting the need to select carcasses on the basis of boar taint.
•Consumer acceptability of entire male pork at eating•A segment of pork lovers, regardless of the level of boar taint, has been identified.•A segment of boar meat lovers and another that rejects boar tainted meat was found.•There is a niche for meat from medium and high levels of boar taint.•Meat classification according to boar taint level is needed to better orientate it.
Withdrawing feed from pigs for a period of time before harvest (fasting) can be a valuable approach to reduce deaths during transport, and improve pork quality and safety. However, factors such as ...time of last feed, feeding regime, and feed type may limit the efficiency of this procedure, and produce variation in the response to fasting for aspects such as carcass yield, stomach weight and contents, and microbial contamination of the carcass at slaughter. Furthermore, the presence of liquid contents in the gut due to the hunger-related higher drinking rate suggest that more research is needed to resolve the potential conflict between animal welfare and food safety objectives of this pre-slaughter procedure.
The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of three alternative (ALT) rearing systems for growing pigs (outdoor: 150 m2/pig; straw bedding: 1.30 m2/pig; and hut with access to a ...courtyard: 1.30 m2/pig) compared with a conventional system (fully slatted floor: 0.65 m2/pig, considered as control), on pre-slaughter stress indicators in relation with meat quality. To that end, the number of skin lesions on whole carcasses, as well as blood creatine kinase (CK) activity and urine levels in cortisol and catecholamines (adrenaline and noradrenaline) were determined at slaughter. Glycolytic potential (GP) and ultimate pH of the semimembranosus muscle were also measured. The global correlation network calculated between all these parameters shows that the indicators of pre-slaughter muscle activity (plasma CK) and/or stress indicators (e.g. adrenaline) are negatively (r = −0.26, P < 0.01; r = −0.29, P < 0.05, respectively) correlated with muscle GP and positively (r = 0.17, P < 0.05; r = 0.44, P < 0.001, respectively) with meat ultimate pH. Although some traits measured were sensitive to the degree of pre-slaughter mixing, they differed across rearing systems. The differences were most pronounced for the comparison of outdoors v. slatted floor. The lower levels of plasma CK and urinary catecholamines, and the lower number of carcass skin lesions of pigs reared outdoors, were related to a lower meat ultimate pH. Thus, ALT rearing systems influence animal welfare and meat quality, by providing enriched environmental conditions to the animals.
The aim of this work was to study consumers' acceptance of pork with different levels of boar taint according to their androstenone (AND) sensitivity in France (FR, N=144), Spain (ES, N=101) and ...United Kingdom (UK, N=147). Samples were classified as ‘females’, ‘detection minus’ males (low levels of AND and skatole — SKA) and ‘detection plus’ males (high levels of AND and SKA). Globally, 22.7% of consumers were high sensitive, 28.3% middle and 49.0% low sensitive or insensitive to AND. Sixty-five percent dislike AND odour. AND disliking was lower in UK than ES and FR. The percentage of consumers that may reject tainted meat was 14.3–41.0%; the risk was lower in UK than ES and FR. The description of AND odour varied according to the degree of sensitivity of the consumers. High AND levels reduced the acceptability of boar meat; medium AND levels could even improve its acceptability compared with low levels, resulting in meat which is as positive as that from females.
► Androstenone disliking was lower in United Kingdom than in Spain and France. ► There are divergences in acceptability of boar meat among countries. ► Boar meat with low androstenone levels was accepted similar that of gilt meat. ► Between 14 and 41% of consumers may reject tainted meat due to androstenone sensitivity.
The effects of restricted outdoor rearing during winter (W) or summer (S), and the influence of indoor ambient temperature 17 °C (I17) vs. 24 °C (I24), the latter being considered as control on pig ...growth performance, carcass, muscular and adipose tissue traits, and technological and eating quality of dry-cured hams were evaluated. I17 pigs exhibited higher, whereas W had similar and S lower growth rates than the controls (
P<0.001). Carcass traits were not different between groups, except in lower back fat weights of S and W pigs (
P<0.01). Decrease in environmental temperature affected the fatty acid composition of the back fat leading to higher MUFA and lower SFA and PUFA contents (
P<0.001) in I17 and W pigs, whereas S pigs exhibited higher PUFA levels (
P<0.001) and fat firmness (
P<0.01) than the controls. Rearing system did not significantly influence the intramuscular fat content of
Semimembranosus (
P=0.08), and had no effect on ultimate pH. In the
Longissimus lumborum, percentage and relative area of αR fibers increased in W pigs (
P<0.05), but citrate synthase activity did not differ between groups. I17 and W hams exhibited higher processing yields of dry-cured hams than controls (
P<0.05). Sensory analyses showed that pig rearing conditions influenced the product appearance, the I17 and W hams exhibiting lower homogeneity (
P<0.01) and intensity (
P<0.05) of colour, and higher marbling scores (
P<0.01) than I24 hams, but had no influence on texture or flavour.
Summary
A quantitative trait loci (QTL) for accumulation of androstenone in fat has been identified in an Large White × Meishan cross in a region of SSC7‐containing TEAD3. In humans, TEAD3 is a ...transcription activator, known to be able to regulate the transcription of HSD3B. This enzyme is involved in the degradation of androstenone in the liver. In this study, porcine transcripts of TEAD3 were characterized and compared with mammalian transcripts. The complete structure of porcine TEAD3 gene was characterized including two 5′ non‐coding exons and one exon 5 not used in porcine transcripts. Variations were screened in sequences related to TEAD3: in exons, in flanking sequences of exons and in the promoter region. A SNP characterized at 726 bp at 5′ of the first exon was tested on several pig populations without coherent and convincing results concerning its association with androstenone levels. We showed that in the liver of adult boars, the transcripts levels of TEAD3 and HSD3B were correlated. As in humans, it is possible that HSD3B is a target gene of TEAD3 in porcine liver. Nevertheless, no expression variation was observed for TEAD3 or HSD3B in liver between animals with different genotypes at the SNP. We concluded that this SNP was not the causal mutation of this QTL.
An international study, involving 11 participants in 7 European countries, was conducted to provide scientific evidence for an objective measurement of boar taint in entire male pigs and its possible ...variation between countries. The specific objectives were to determine the respective contributions of androstenone and skatole to boar taint and their possible variations according to production systems and consumer populations. Over 4000 entire male pigs and 200 gilts were raised and slaughtered in 6 countries. Meat samples were taken from the loin and backfat samples were used for the rapid measurement of androstenone and skatole. A sub-population of 377 entire males and 42 gilts was then selected in such a way as to represent all combinations of skatole and androstenone levels. Androstenone and skatole levels in the selected samples were checked, using established reference methods. Meat samples from the selected animals were used for sensory evaluation by trained panels and for consumer surveys in 7 European countries. The present paper gives a general presentation of the programme and reports the main characteristics of the samples. Three companion papers present the results of the evaluation by trained sensory panels
Dijksterhuis, G., Engel, B., Walstra, P., Font i Furnols, M., Agerhem, H., Fisher, K., Oliver, M. A., Claudi-Magnussen, C., Siret, F., Béague, M. P., Homer, D. B., & Bonneau, M. (2000). An international study on the importance of androstenone and skatole for boar taint: II. Sensory evaluation by trained panels in seven European countries.
Meat Science
54, 261–269
, the results of the consumer surveys
Matthews, K. R., Homer, D. B., Punter, P., Béague, M. P., Gispert, M., Kemspter, A. J., Agerhem, H., Claudi-Magnussen, C., Fischer, K., Siret, F., Leask, H., Font i Furnols, M., & Bonneau, M. (2000). An international study on the importance of androstenone and skatole for boar taint: III. Consumer survey in seven European countries.
Meat Science,
54, 271–283
and the main conclusions and recommendations
Bonneau, M., Walstra, P., Claudi-Magnussen, C., Kempster, A. J., Tornberg, E., Fischer, K., Diestre, A., Siret, F., Chevillon, P., Claus, R., Dijksterhuis, G., Punter, P., Matthews, K. R., Agerhem, H., Béague, M. P., Oliver, M. A., Gispert, M., Weiler, U., von Seth, G., Leask, H., Font i Furnols, M., Homer, D. B., & Cook, G. L. (2000). An international study on the importance of androstenone and skatole for boar taint: IV. Simulation studies on consumer dissatisfaction with entire male pork and the effect of sorting out carcasses on the slaughter line, main conclusions and recommendations.
Meat Science,
54, 285–295
. Seasonal effects and differences between countries in skatole and androstenone levels are presented elsewhere
Walstra, P., Claudi-Magnussen, C., Chevillon, P., von-Seth, G., Diestre, A., Matthews, K. R., Homer, D. B., & Bonneau, M. (in press). An international study on the importance of androstenone and skatole for boar taint: Levels of androstenone and skatole according to country and season.
Livestock Production Science. A supplementary paper considers the effects of human sensitivity to androstenone and skatole on the consumer acceptance of entire male pork Weiler, U., Font i Furnols, M., Fischer, K., Kemmer, H., Oliver, M. A., Gispert, M., Dobrowolski, A., & Claus, R. (in press). Influence of differences in sensitivity of Spanish and German consumers to perceive androstenone on the acceptance of boar meat differing in skatole and androstenone concentrations.
Meat Science. A study of possible other compounds contributing to boar taint was also carried out within this programme.
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