A note on the relationships between measures of water holding capacity in the M. longissimus dorsi and total drip loss from butchered pig carcasses during storage

Abstract

Twenty pig carcasses were selected to represent a range of meat quality. The water holding capacity (WHC) of the M. longissimus dorsi (LD) was estimated using several methods and the usefulness of these measures examined to predict the overall loss in weight from the butchered carcasses when jointed and displayed in a manner corresponding to a retail situation. There was a linear relationship between the logarithms of percentage loss in weight of the butchered carcass and days of display time. The total weight loss from the butchered carcasses after 5 days ranged from 2·2 to 6·4% and the best relationship with this weight loss was for WHC assessed by loss of exudate from slices of LD suspended in netting bags for 72 h at 1°C (r = 0·88, P < 0·001). Measures of WHC based on high or low speed centrifugation, or a filter paper press method, gave slightly poorer correlations. However, all WHC methods except low speed centrifugations gave correlations which were better than those with pH measured at 45 min post mortem, or reflectance or Fibre Optic Probe Values at 24 h post mortem.