Genetic and environmental effects on a meat spotting defect in seasoned dry-cured ham

Abstract

Purpose of this investigation was to determine the nature of a visible spotting defect on the slice of dry-cured ham and assess environmental and genetic causes of this frequent problem. A group of 233 pigs from commercial cross-breeding lines, progeny of ten boars and forty seven sows, was raised in a single herd to obtain the &ldquo;Italian Heavy Pig&rdquo;, typically slaughtered at 160 &plusmn; 10 kg live weight and older than 9 months of age. A quality evaluation of their right dry-cured hams, seasoned according to the Parma P.D.O. protocol, was undertaken. Each ham was cross-sectioned to obtain a slice of <em>Semimembranosus</em>, <em>Semitendinosus</em> and <em>Biceps</em> <em>Femoris</em> muscles. The focused phenotype was the presence/absence of brownish spots in these muscles, which represent a remarkable meat defect with strong impact on the final sale price. Environmental and management factors were considered in order to evaluate variability related to the phenotype. Animals were raised on two different flooring types (concrete and slatted floor) and a Vitamin C diet was also supplemented in the last 45 days before slaughtering to half of the animals. While the pre-planned environmental effects did not show any significant contribution to the total variability of the phenotype, the genetic analysis showed a near to zero value for heritability with a consistent 0.32 repeatability. The proportion of the total phenotypic variance was explained by an important dominance genetic component (0.26) indicating that the technological seasoning process may play a secondary role on the expression of this phenotype

Growth performance, and carcass and raw ham quality of crossbred heavy pigs from four genetic groups fed low protein diets for dry-cured ham production

“…Dry-cured ham is a typical food product of many geographical areas (Toldrà, 2004). In Italy, around 12.5 million dry-cured hams labeled as protected designation of origin (PDO) are manufactured each year (Moro et al, 2011), accounting for 20% of sales volume of all PDO products. PDO specifications require dry-cured hams to be produced from 9-month-old pigs of permitted genetic groups (GG), with a body weight (BW) of at least 160 kg and an adequate fat covering of carcass and hams (EEC, 1992).…”

Aplicación de la Imagen de Resonancia Magnética (IRM) al análisis morfológico no destructivo de piezas cárnicas. Una aproximación a la selección de perniles

“…embocar en la aparición de manchas verdes, ocres o marrones, como resultado de su oxidación durante el proceso de curado (Arnau, 2021). Tal y como indican Moro et al (2011), estas manchas de las tonalidades indicadas se asocian a la presencia de hemoglobina, y aparecen con una mayor incidencia en el músculo ST. Las zonas con acúmulo de sangre son especialmente susceptibles de presentar un deterioro bacteriano (Čandek-Potokar y Škrlep, 2012).…”