Canada - Researchers Report Diet Manipulation Can Impact Carcass Quality and Pork Quality
Published:November 25, 2004
Source :Manitoba Pork Council
Researchers at the Prairie Swine Centre report hog producers can dramatically impact the quality their product by manipulating the nutritional aspects of diet.
Carcass quality refers to factors such as the proportion of lean and marbling in the carcass and pork quality refers to factors that influence consumer perceptions of the product including tastiness, juiciness and palatability.
Prairie Swine Centre President Dr. John Patience says, from a nutrition point of view, producers can influence both.
"Certainly one of the things that we think is always important is the dollars and cents of the whole processes but, as we manipulate the diet in order to maximize net income, we have to keep in mind what is the impact that has on pork quality.
There's three areas that producers can have an influence on. One is the formulation of the diet, the quantity of nutrients that are present in the diet and the relationship, the ratio of those nutrients to each other.
We can have quite an influence on the quality of the carcass and the quality of the pork by the balance of nutrients in the diet.
The second way that we can influence carcass quality and pork quality is the manner in which we feed the pig.
For example, removing the feed from the pig prior to slaughter can have an impact on the incidence of a syndrome called pale soft exudative pork.
The manner in which we feed the pig can also affect the juiciness of the pork, the tenderness of the pork product and the overall acceptability of it.
The third component is additives that can be used in the diet.
For example there's a product called magnesium Magnesium Aspartate which actually has the effect of reducing the stress on the animal and, since the stress on the animal has an adverse effect on pork quality, feeding Magnesium Aspartate to the pig at times of stress can have a positive effect on pork quality."
Dr. Patience says, as we manipulate diet to maximize net income, we have to consider how quality will be impacted because we want the product to be well received by the consumer.
