The Effect of PSE and Non-PSE Adductor and Semimembranosus Pig Muscles on the Occurrence of Destructured Zones in Cooked Hams

Abstract

The aim of this study was to analyse pig muscles used in the production of cooked hams with a view to the occurrence of PSE-type defects and their potential effect on the frequency of destructured zones in finished products. One hundred and six samples of m. adductor (AD) and m. semimembranosus (SM) pig muscles were studied. The two kinds of muscle differed from each other in terms of their pH values and colour ( * : lightness, * : redness, and * : yellowness); these differences between the two categories were statistically significant ( < 0.001). The AD muscles were divided into meat with PSE (pale, soft, and exudative) defects and non-PSE meat by sensory examination. A total of 44.3% of AD muscles showed PSE defects. Lightness * fell within a range of 50.68-55.23 in non-PSE meat (AD) and was statistically significantly lower ( < 0.001) than in PSE meat (56.25-58.78). Drip loss (AD) was higher ( < 0.001) in PSE meat (4.83-6.27%) than in non-PSE meat (3.53-5.0%). Cooked hams prepared from pig muscles showed evident destructured zones when sliced, the number and overall area of which were not affected by the occurrence of PSE defects in the raw meat used.

Morphological signs of myopathy in pork that show no drastic decrease in pH after slaughter

“…However, the destructive alterations in the muscular tissue of pork are not always associated with the development of PSE. In the study of swine legs by Eliášová et al (2017), signs of destructive meat were found only in 44.3% of PSE samples. At the same time, regardless of this, the finished products had noticeable faults, the so-called "destructured zones".…”

“…Annual losses of the leading pork-producing countries due to PSE meat are estimated at millions of dollars (Owen et al, 2000). Furthermore, decrease in functional properties of proteins causes inappropriateness of meat for the production of certain types of goods -boiled and fermented crusts, ham, etc (Honkavaara, 1988;O'Neill et al, 2003;Eliášová et al, 2017).…”

Bioimpedance-based authentication of defrosted versus fresh pork at the end of refrigerated shelf life

“…Such drip loss is thought to result from changes to the water holding capacity of myofilaments and cellular membrane leakage [ 33 ]. Secondly, apart from normal post-mortem quality changes, tissue degradation can be aggravated by common pork meat defects, including the so-called PSE-like or “destructured pork” and known heritable defects (PSE/hal+ pork, acid/RN–pork, [ 34 , 35 ]). Afflicted meat can exhibit vastly diverse degrees of cellular and fiber disintegration, often causing excessive drip loss.…”

Application of two-stage salting of meat by-products in pork whole-muscle production with abnormal autolysis

“…Domestic and foreign specialists of meat industry have been paying attention to the creation of rational ways of pork processing with PSE and DFD properties since 1970s -from the moment of mass appearance and identification of such raw materials [14,[15][16][17][18][19].…”

“…In our opinion, the optimal option for adjusting the properties of raw materials is the use of salting. The possibilities of reducing the duration of salting while maintaining the quality of salted meat products using classical diffusion-osmotic processes are now practically exhausted [17,18,19]. Various techniques accompanied by macro-and microdestructive changes in the morphological state of meat muscle tissue are widely used in modern salting methods.…”