Pre-slaughter handling and pork quality

Environmental variables, as sound levels, were collected during the pre-slaughter process in 18 different Belgian commercial slaughterhouses. Four pre-slaughter phases were determined: firstly after arrival of the truck at the slaughterhouse and just before unloading, secondly during unloading, thir...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Meat science 2015-02, Vol.100, p.118-123
Main Authors: Vermeulen, L., Van de Perre, V., Permentier, L., De Bie, S., Verbeke, G., Geers, R.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Abattoirs
Animal Welfare
Animals
Checklist
Environment
Food Quality
Humans
Hydrogen-Ion Concentration
Meat - analysis
Meat - standards
Muscle, Skeletal
Pig
Pork quality
Postmortem Changes
Pre-slaughter stress
Stress, Physiological
Stress, Psychological
Swine
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Environmental variables, as sound levels, were collected during the pre-slaughter process in 18 different Belgian commercial slaughterhouses. Four pre-slaughter phases were determined: firstly after arrival of the truck at the slaughterhouse and just before unloading, secondly during unloading, thirdly at lairage and finally while moving to the stunner. A total of 8508 pigs was examined during the pre-slaughter process, of which the pHLT (M. longissimus thoracis), at 30min post-mortem was measured. For each pre-slaughter phase, variables which might influence pork quality were determined. Moreover, this study made it possible to infer a checklist to represent and predict PSE traits of pork for all kind of pre-slaughter situations. The checklist shows also that the impact on pork quality is more decisive for the variables measured close to the stunning phase. Hence, this information is useful for the industry to optimize handling of pigs, reducing the risk for PSE traits.
ISSN:0309-1740
1873-4138
DOI:10.1016/j.meatsci.2014.09.148