• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
• /
• v.28 no.3
• /
• pp.435-441
• /
• 2015

Relationships among different stress parameters (lairage time and blood level of lactate and cortisol), meat quality parameters (initial and ultimate pH value, temperature, drip loss, sensory and instrumental colour, marbling) and carcass quality parameters (degree of rigor mortis and skin damages, hot carcass weight, carcass fat thickness, meatiness) were determined in pigs (n = 100) using Pearson correlations. After longer lairage, blood lactate (p<0.05) and degree of injuries (p<0.001) increased, meat became darker (p<0.001), while drip loss decreased (p<0.05). Higher lactate was associated with lower initial pH value (p<0.01), higher temperature (p<0.001) and skin blemishes score (p<0.05) and more developed rigor mortis (p<0.05), suggesting that lactate could be a predictor of both meat quality and the level of preslaughter stress. Cortisol affected carcass quality, so higher levels of cortisol were associated with increased hot carcass weight, carcass fat thickness on the back and at the sacrum and marbling, but also with decreased meatiness. The most important meat quality parameters (pH and temperature after 60 minutes) deteriorated when blood lactate concentration was above 12 mmol/L.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
• /
• v.49 no.4
• /
• pp.927-936
• /
• 2022

The effects of seasonal differences and crating densities on the preslaughter losses, breast meat quality, and physiological indices of broilers were determined. A total of 600 broilers aged 35 days were divided into 10 treatment groups based on five crating densities (10.3, 11.5, 12.8, 14.1, 15.4 birds·m^-2) with two seasons (i.e., summer and winter) to give six replicates and were placed at various locations in the truck. The birds were transported in crates having dimensions of 1.0 m × 0.78 m × 0.26 m. The transportation distance was 20 km for 40 minutes (average 30 - 50 km·h^-1) during the early morning. The results revealed that broilers transported at densities of 14.1 and 15.4 birds·m^-2 recorded lower (p < 0.05) pH, water-holding capacity (WHC), and muscle redness compared to those at densities of 11.5 birds·m^-2. Furthermore, higher (p < 0.05) cooking loss was found in birds stocked at more than 14.1 birds·m^-2 compared to the other treatments. However, no effect (p > 0.05) with different crating densities on body weight loss, carcass traits, glucose, lactate, or muscle yellowness was observed. Crating density of 14.1 birds·m^-2 showed lower (p < 0.05) cortisol contents compared with birds at 10.3 and 15.4 birds·m^-2. Winter transportation had higher (p < 0.05) relative breast meat weight, cooking loss, muscle redness, and cortisol contents whereas summer transportation had higher (p < 0.05) glucose and lactate contents in the blood plasma of broilers. In conclusion, the stocking of 12.8 birds·m^-2 is recommended to minimize stress responses and undesirable changes that could negatively affect muscle quality.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
• /
• v.24 no.4
• /
• pp.424-432
• /
• 2004

The handling and transport of broiler birds from farm to the processing factory is known to cause injury and dead. The preslaughter period can be compromised through thermal stress, emotional stress, starvation, dehydration, metabolic exhaustion, trauma to the skin and bone fraction resulting in bruising and dead. This paper focuses on the control points of individual post Harvest stages by reference to recent literature. In catching, the injuries and deads are caused from fracture of bone, skin damage and hipbone dislocation. It can be improved by training the catchers. The primary factor of dead during transportation is from thermal stress. It is related to stocking density, type of crate and vehicle, ventilation and transportation time. Of the factors, the ventilation is very important. The holding place should be built with consideration of protection from the hostile external environment. There were not much progresses in this area, however, many researches are conducting to focus on animal welfare in European Union. Recently, it is rapidly changed in marketing custom from whole carcass to portion cut in Korea. This means the increase of economic loss due to the mishandling at post harvest. The systematic approach is demanded for this area.

• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
• /
• v.26 no.1
• /
• pp.1-25
• /
• 1999

Concerns about meat quality, including chicken meat, for the human diet has led to many attempts to manipulate the carcass fat and increase the eating quality. For actual eating quality, the birds must be grown and finished in a manner that results in meat that are tender, succulent and of good flavor, as well as being free from any foreign taint, flavor or safety hazard. Tenderization treatment with high voltage(820V) electrical stimulation and prechill muscle tensioning would improve the tenderness of chicken meat. Proper programs for the withdrawal of feed and water require a team approach for maximizing yield of meat and minimizing carcass contamination. Also effding of supplemental levels of-tocopherol to poultry with vegetable or fish oils increases of desirable polyunsaturated fatty acid(PUFA) content and stablizes the meat against rancidity and fish off-flavors. The nutritional effects of varying dietary ingredients on broiler carcass fat content are also important. Increasing the levels of energy in the ration increases the carcass fat content, while increasing the proteing levels decreases carcass fat content. Supplement-tation of poultry diets with amino acids such as methionine, lysine, glycine and tryptophan as well as amino acid such as well as amino acid mixtures can reduce body fat deposition. Normal stress leads to chicken muscular damage resulting in reduced meat quality, but this can be controlled by preslaughter management practices. Feed manufactures can utilize ntilize nutrient modulation to control pale soft exudative(PSE)syndrome. Finally, the success in poultry meat production depends on the consistent achievement of carefully selected levels of quality. Quality assurance should be the wider function of incorporating quality into the production system and the combination of motivating quality into actions and operations.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
• /
• v.12 no.2
• /
• pp.244-252
• /
• 1999

Intensive selection for muscle development and against fat deposition in pigs during the last 50 years has contributed to the increased incidence of porcine stress syndrome (PSS) and pale soft exudative pork (PSE). Genetics, nutrition and management, preslaughter animal handling, stunning, dehairing and carcass chilling influence the incidence and magnitude of the PSE condition. The normal incidence of PSE has been reported to range from 10 to 30%, but in some isolated instances is up to 60%. The elimination of halothane-positive pigs in breeding programs has reduced PSS and PSE. Further improvements in meat quality by terminal sire evaluation and selection can be achieved within halothane-negative populations because around 20% of the variation in meat color and water binding capacity seems to be genetically related. Pre-slaughter handling on the farm, during transit to the packing plant and at the packing plant can greatly influence the meat quality, contributing 10 to 25% of the variation. An effective stunning method, skinning instead of scalding/dehairing and rapid post-slaughter chilling further reduce the incidence of PSE pork. In addition to proper care and handling a carcass-merit based marketing system, that reflected the value differential between desirable and undesirable meat quality in the pricing system for pigs, would provide a great incentive to change pork production systems in order to improve meat quality, thus improving the image and usefulness of pork as food.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
• /
• v.33 no.10
• /
• pp.1656-1665
• /
• 2020

Objective: This study aimed to determine the effects of stress during slaughter of beef cattle on physiological parameters, carcass, and meat quality at a Federal Inspection Type slaughterhouse located in the southeast of Mexico. Methods: A total of 448 carcasses of male Zebu×European steers with an average age of 36 months were included. Carcass assessment of presence of bruises and bruise characteristics was carried out on each half-carcass. Blood variable indicators of stress (packed cell volume, neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio, glucose, cortisol concentration) and meat quality parameters (pH, color, shear force, drip loss) were evaluated. Results: Of the 448 carcasses evaluated, 81% of the carcasses showed at least one bruise; one bruise was detected in 36.6% and two bruises in 27.0% of animals. Of the 775 bruises found, 69.2% of the bruises were grade 1 in region 3. Of the 448 carcasses studied, 69.6% showed hyperglycemia (6.91 mmol/L); 44.3% and 22.7% showed high (74.7 ng/mL) and extremely high (108.8 ng/mL) cortisol levels, respectively, indicative of inadequate handling of animals during preslaughter and slaughter. Of the carcasses evaluated, 90.4% had a pH ≥5.8 with an average of pH 6.3. In both pH groups, meat samples showed L^⋆ values >37.0 (81.6%) and a shear force >54.3 N; meat pH≥5.8 group showed a drip loss of 2.5%. These findings were indicative of dark, firm, and dry (DFD) meat. According to principal component analysis, grades 1 and 2 bruises in region 3 and grade 1 bruises in region 5 were highly associated with cortisol, drip loss, and color parameters b^⋆ and h^⋆ and were negatively associated with L^⋆, a^⋆, and C^⋆. Conclusion: The bruises probably caused by stress-inducing situations triggered DFD meat. Appropriate changes in handling routines in operating conditions should be made to minimize stress to animals during the slaughter process to improve animal welfare and meat quality.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
• /
• v.20 no.5
• /
• pp.761-767
• /
• 2007

This study was conducted to determine the effects of exogenous zinc-metallothionein (Zn-MT) on anti-oxidative function and pork quality. After feeding a corn-soybean meal-based diet for two weeks, 48 pigs ($Duroc{\times}Landrace{\times}Chinese\;Black Pig$) were assigned randomly to four groups. Pigs in Group 1 were maintained under non-stress conditions, whereas pigs in Groups 2, 3 and 4 were aggressively handled for 25 min to produce stress. Pigs in Groups 1, 2, 3, and 4 received intramuscular administration of saline (control group; CON), 0 (negative control group; NCON), 0.8 (low dose group; LOW), and 1.6 (high dose group; HIGH) mg rabbit liver Zn-MT per kg body weight, respectively. Pigs were slaughtered at 3 and 6 h post-injection. Zn-MT treatment increased (p<0.05) the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione-peroxidase (GSH-PX) while decreasing the concentration of malondialdehyde (MDA) in liver. These responses were greater (p<0.05) at 6 h than at 3 h post Zn-MT injection. Zn-MT treatment increased (p<0.05) hepatic SOD mRNA levels in a time and dose-dependent manner and decreased (p<0.05) serum glutamate-pyruvate transaminase and lactate dehydrogenase activities (indicators of tissue integrity). Zn-MT administration decreased (p<0.05) lactate concentration and increased (p<0.05) pH and water-holding capacity in the longissimus thorasis meat. Collectively, our results indicate that intramuscular administration of Zn-MT to pre-slaughter stressed pigs improved tissue anti-oxidative ability and meat quality.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
• /
• v.46 no.3
• /
• pp.405-414
• /
• 2004

This study evaluated the effects of preslaughter feed withdrawal and chiller ageing on objective meat quality traits in longissimus dorsi (LD), biceps femoris(BF), and triceps brachii(TB) muscles of Korean native black pigs. Twenty males were assigned into a 2(pre-slaughter feeding) ${\times}$ 2(pre-slaughter stress) ${\times}$ 4(chiller ageing) factorial. Pre-slaughter fasting for 18 h resulted in significantly(P < 0.05) higher pHs at 1.5 h for both LD and BF. On the other hand, muscle temperature did not differ between the fasted and fed animals. The result implied that pigs with different pre-slaughter feedings experienced different pH-temperature profiles during rigor development. This was reflected by the significan(P < 0.05) increase in cooking loss and hunter $L^*$ for LD of the fed pigs. However, WB-shear force of LD was not affected by the treatment. Furthermore, objective meat quality of BF and TB did not differ between the treatments. Hunter $L^*$ value and cooking loss for LD were constant for 7 d, followed by a significant(P < 0.05) increase at 14 d. BF and TB had significantly(P < 0.05) higher hunter $L^*$ value and cooking loss at 14 d than at 1 d. Significant(P < 0.05) linear reductions in LD WB-shear force took place from 1 to 7 d, while BF and TB WB-shear forces were significantly (P < 0.05) reduced at 14 d. Simple correlation for WB-shear force between LD and BF, and between LD and TB indicated that 6 kg of shear force for LD was equivalent to approximately 3.5 and 6 kg for TB and BF, respectively. On the basis of the current result, feeding until the morning of slaughter appeared to contribute to favourable meat color for LD. However, negative effect on palatability due to increase in cooking loss should be taken into account. A 7-d chiller ageing was likely the best practice for LD, while TB appeared not to require chiller ageing. A 14-d ageing could improve the tenderness of BF, but could likely reduce juiciness.