Valorisation of tainted boar meat in patties, frankfurter sausages and cooked ham by means of targeted dilution, cooking and smoking

An overlooked compound contributing to boar taint and consumer rejection of meat products: 2-Aminoacetophenone

Mainly skatole and androstenone have so far been considered causative for boar taint. Using a mixed methods approach it is shown herein that 2-aminoacetophenone (AAP) affects human perception of pork, too. We explored the importance of AAP in four trials: (1) chemical analyses of 221 fat samples from boar carcasses revealed that AAP occurs, on average, in similar quantities as skatole while the levels of androstenone being four-fold. (2) ranking tests with mixtures of androstenone and/or skatole with AAP presented on smell strips to trained sensory assessors showed that AAP amplifies boar odour. In order to study AAP's importance in meat products, four experimental variants of Lyon type sausage were then produced: a control, a product with added skatole (0.075 μg/g fat tissue), with added AAP (0.075 μg/g fat tissue), and with addition of both compounds. (3) results of a consumer discrimination test panel (n = 71) showed that, when added to a sausage system, APP causes a sensory difference of similar size as skatole while the methodology chosen affects the effect size: tetrad tests proved to be more sensitive than duo trio difference tests, in the tetrad test a sensory difference expressed as d' (d-prime) of 1.0 was reached. (4) a hedonic consumer test (n = 121) finally revealed that APP decreased consumer liking of the APP-spiked sausage - even to a stronger extent than skatole. APP caused significant drops in smell, taste, mouth-feel, after-taste and overall liking in Lyoner. Overall the findings suggest that, in the context of pork meat, AAP is of similar olfactory importance as skatole.

Spanish Fuet Sausages Fat-Reduced to Diminish Boar Taint: Sensory and Technological Quality

Reduced-fat cured sausages were evaluated as a strategy to reduce boar taint in entire male pork products with high levels of androstenone and skatole, both lipophilic. Three fuet-type sausages (two replicates each) were developed: the control (C) (60% lean, 33.69% fat), and two reduced-fat (60% lean 21.19% fat) products; R1, 6% inulin, 0.5% β-glucan and R2, 3% inulin, 0.5% grape skin and 1% β-glucan. All of them were prepared from entire male pork with an androstenone concentration of 6.887 µg/g and 0.520 µg/g of skatole. Significant differences (p ≤ 0.001) in the moisture content were described between the fuet R1 and the C and R2, which obtained the highest percentage. Regarding the CIELAB, the C samples had the highest L* value, while the R2 sausages were the darkest. Boar taint was reduced in both R1 and R2, with a greater reduction in R2 (p ≤ 0.000). The addition of inulin and β-glucan in fuet R1 provided a similar technological and sensory profile to C. However, both strategies provided a reduction of sexual odour, which was higher when grape skins were included. In addition, R2 gave a characteristic sausage with more odour and flavour, dark colour and overall rating than C and R1.

Fat Replacement by Vegetal Fibres to Improve the Quality of Sausages Elaborated with Non-Castrated Male Pork

Simple Summary

Traditionally, male pigs were castrated without anaesthesia or pain relief before they reached 7 days of age to avoid the production of an undesirable odour and flavour in their meat, termed “boar taint.” In recent years, to improve animal welfare according to European recommendations, farmers have generally abandoned this practice, increasing the supply of non-castrated male pork in the market. Based on this, alternatives are required to improve the quality of meat and meat products derived from these animals, as these products also possess different texture characteristics that make the meat harder and less juicy due to the presence of less fat. Recently, health has become more important to consumers, and reducing the fat content in non-castrated male pig products by replacing it with vegetable fibre has been shown to represent a good strategy for masking and improving texture.

Abstract

Based on the need to find alternatives for the use of meat from non-castrated male pigs that contains high levels of androstenone and skatole, the production of meat products (raw and Frankfurt sausages) with reduced fat content was proposed, as these compounds are lipophilic. For this purpose, three batches of each product (total six) were produced. These included a control batch (1); normal fat content and two fat-reduced batches, where (2) fat was replaced with inulin and β-glucan, or (3) fat was replaced with inulin and β-glucan in addition to a skin grape by-product. These groups used meat from non-castrated male pigs that contained 6.25 µg/g androstenone and 0.4451 µg/g skatole. In general, fat-reduced sausages exhibited less brightness than did the controls. The texture results in Frankfurt were similar to those of the control, while Spanish sausage supplemented with grape skin exhibited reduced hardness. Both strategies resulted in a reduction in boar taint, and this reduction was up to 87.3% in raw sausages with grape by-products. Fat reduction could provide an interesting strategy to allow for the use of tainted meat from non-castrated male pigs.

The Use of Pork from Entire Male and Immunocastrated Pigs for Meat Products-An Overview with Recommendations

Due to the strong public initiative in Europe and increased regulator focus to mitigate pain, surgical castration of pigs is being gradually abandoned, while the importance of other sex categories like entire males (EM) and immunocastrates (IC) increases. Although beneficial for animal welfare and economics, their use also brings forward several quality problems. Besides the occurrence of boar taint in EM, these include excessive carcass leanness, softer fat, meat color and pH deviations, inferior water holding capacity and increased meat toughness. In this paper, the raw material differences between the male sex categories and their influence on product quality are reviewed, and possible solutions are presented. Using EM for dried or thermally processed products may result in lower processing yields and inferior sensory quality, which may partially be prevented by applying specific processing adaptations. Immunocastration is a viable solution, especially when prolonging the vaccination to slaughter interval. Low to medium levels of boar taint can be effectively managed in most of the meat products, applying procedures like cooking, microbial inoculation or masking (by spices and especially smoking), while highly tainted material can be valorized only by combining various methods and/or with dilution of the tainted meat.