Evaluation of pH in swine carcasses regarding on the trasport distance of the animals: a case study

Hércules José Marzoque,Alcinéia Lemos De Souza Ramos,Jorge Pamplona Pagnossa,Renan Fernandes Da Cunha,Douglas Roberto Guimarães Silva,Clara Mariana Gonçalves Lima,Eduardo Mendes Ramos

doi:10.33448/rsd-v9i10.8893

Hércules José Marzoque, Alcinéia Lemos De Souza Ramos + Show 5 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.33448/rsd-v9i10.8893

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Abstract

The PSE (Pale, Soft and Exudative) swine meat is an anomaly that produces great economic losses in the swine industry and products because proteins lose their functionality, affecting the ability of water retention, binding, and emulsification of meat. Due to the importance of quality control of carcasses, the determination of the pH parameter is necessary to perform the classification of the product in: normal; PSE; and DFD (Dark, Firm, and Dry). In this sense, the purpose of the work was to perform the evaluation of pH values after 45 minutes of bleeding (pH45) and function of the distance from farms to a slaughterhouse and calculate the indicator of Meat PSE in swine carcasses. The experiment was carried out in a large plant, under the supervision of the Federal Inspection Service (SIF). A total of 725 carcasses were used, separated into lots and the transport distance from the farms to the slaughterhouse ranged from 25 to 427 km. For the evaluation of the incidence of PSE, pH45 was measured by a direct method, and the management of pre-slaughter animals was standardized for all lots, except for rest time. The animals transported for shorter distances (25 and 65 km) presented 11% indicative of PSE meat, a fact that shows that the stress response is higher when the animals are subjected to short transport distances compared to longer distances (320, 340, and 427 km).

Highlights

Swine meat needs greater visibility in the consumer market and, for this, it is necessary to have its quality controlled to meet the expectations of consumers
The purpose of the work was to perform the evaluation of pH values after 45 minutes of bleeding and function of the distance from farms to a slaughterhouse and calculate the indicator of Meat PSE in swine carcasses
The animals transported for shorter distances (25 and 65 km) presented 11% indicative of PSE meat, a fact that shows that the stress response is higher when the animals are subjected to short transport distances compared to longer distances (320, 340, and 427 km)

Summary

Introduction

Swine meat needs greater visibility in the consumer market and, for this, it is necessary to have its quality controlled to meet the expectations of consumers. The swine carcass shall be considered normal when the initial pH has a value of 5.8 or more and the final pH is less than 6.0. The meat will be classified as PSE when the initial pH shows a value of less than 5.8 and the final pH less than or equal to 5.6; and will be indicated as DFD, when the final pH has a value greater than 6.0. The initial pH is collected 45 minutes after the slaughter of the animal and the final pH is measured after 24 hours in cooling (Bridi & Abércio, 2009). The objective of this study was to evaluate the pH values after 45 minutes as a function of the distance from the farms to the slaughterhouse and to calculate the PSE meat indicator according to the pH values

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