• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.229-237
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• 2009

This study was conducted to compare the quality of the pork from finishing pigs that were fed diets containing different levels of methyl sulfonyl methane (MSM). A total of 135 crossbred pigs $(Landrace{\times}Yorkshire{\times}Duroc)$ were fed either with a control commercial diet or the control diet supplemented with 300- and 500-ppm MSM for 158d. The pigs were slaughtered at approximately 110kg live weight and were transported to the local slaughterhouse for electrical stunning followed by exsanguination. After the slaughter, the pork muscles were dissected from each carcass, placed in wrap package bags, and stored for 8d at $4^{\circ}C$. The TEARS values of the pigs that were fed MSM diets were significantly lower (p<0.05) compared with those of the pigs that were fed with non-supplemented diets. The Na, Mg, and Ca contents of the dietary MSM were significantly lower (p<0.05) than those of the non-supplemented diets, but the Fe, Cu, and Zn contents of the dietary MSM were significantly higher (p<0.05) than those of the non-supplemented diets, and the increased level of MSM supplementation resulted in higher sulfur contents. There was no difference among the diets in terms of amino acid content. The dietary supplementation with MSM, however, led to increased saturated fatty acid and decreased unsaturated fatty acid (%) in the pork muscles (p<0.05). The sensory panelists recorded greater marbling and overall acceptability scores in the samples with 500-ppm-MSM dietary supplementation (p<0.05). These data suggest that supplementing pig diets with MSM can improve the quality of the pork and can enhance the eating quality because the sensory panels found that the pork from pigs that were fed an MSM-supplemented diet had better sensory characteristics.