Abstract
Consumers are increasingly quality orientated and an understanding of the factors that influence product quality is a prerequisite to the development of programs to produce quality pork to meet market requirements. Pork quality is comprised of many components and is multi-factorial in nature. This review focuses on genetic and environmental influences on muscle color, water holding capacity, and palatability attributes. The impact of genetic factors such as breed variation and the influence of major genes (the Halothane and Rendement Napole genes), as well as relationships between carcass leanness and quality, are considered. In addition, the effect of nutrition, including vitamins and minerals, feeding level, and dietary energy:protein ratio, on pork quality is reviewed. Finally, the impact of diet on fat composition and quality is summarized.