Journal of Animal Science and Technology (Sep 2020)

Effects of carcass weight increase on meat quality and sensory properties of pork loin

  • Young-Hwa Hwang,
  • Se-Jin Lee,
  • Eun-Yeong Lee,
  • Seon-Tea Joo

DOI
https://doi.org/10.5187/jast.2020.62.5.753
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 62, no. 5
pp. 753 – 760

Abstract

Read online

The objective of this study was to investigate the influence of increasing carcass weight (CW) on meat quality traits including meat color, water-holding capacity (WHC), tenderness, backfat thickness and intramuscular fat (IMF) content of pork loin. A total of 96 pork carcasses (48 LYD [Landrace × Yorkshire × Duroc] barrows and gilts) were selected at a commercial slaughterhouse. Each gender had commercial CW (≤ 90 kg), heavy CW (91–100 kg) and very heavy CW (> 100 kg) (16 carcasses from each CW group). Loin cuts (Longissimus lumborum) were excised to investigate meat color (CIE L*a*b*), drip loss, cooking loss, released water, Warner-Bratzler shear force (WBSF), and IMF content. Backfat thickness and IMF content of pork loin samples were significantly (p < 0.05) increased with increasing CW, although there was no significant difference in ultimate pH (pHu). CIE a* increased significantly (p < 0.05) with increasing CW, while there were no significant differences in CIE L* or CIE b* among CW groups. Although all WHC measures showed no significant differences among CW groups, WBSF increased significantly (p < 0.01) with increasing CW. Sensory flavor score was significantly increased while panel score for tenderness was decreased significantly (p < 0.001) with increasing CW. Consequently, CW had a positive correlation with flavor but negative correlation with tenderness. These results indicate that the increased IMF content improves flavor, juiciness and palatability, although tenderness deteriorates with increasing CW.

Keywords