Influence of Ultimate pH on Meat Quality and Consumer Purchasing Decisions
By Ronald Klont, PIC’s Northern European Pork Chain Manager - Ronald Klont defines the relationships between ultimate pH and four of the five meat quality attributes that impact consumer purchasing decisions - taste, appearance and juiciness.

Competition from South American Pork Production
By Luciano Roppa and presented at the 2005 Banff Pork Seminar - The ongoing growth of the world population has made researchers ask where food will be produced in the future. What areas will have land and water availability for food production based on...

Meat Quality vs Costs of Production: which way should the industry go?
By Jeff Wood, Professor of Food Animal Science, University of Bristol and presented at the 16th Annual JSR Technical Conference - Both meat quality and costs of production (COP) are clearly important for the future, but whereas reducing COP is a clear...

Preventing Carcass Losses
By Julia Keenliside, Swine Veterinarian, Alberta Government. When margins are tight, getting the most dollars for every pig marketed is critical. Certain health problems can lead to extra carcass trims and condemnations, reducing any profits made. Many...

Effects of intermittent lighting on resting behavior by newly weaned piglets
By ST Millman, KC Sheppard, M Madden, A Valliant Department of Population Medicine, University of Guelph - This article is taken from the University of Guelph Swine Research Review 2005 report. Piglets are challenged with a number of stressors during...

Scientific Opinion on “The probability of transmission of Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome virus (PRRSv) to naive pigs via fresh meat
By the European Food Safety Authority - The EFSA Journal (2005) 239, 1-85. The EU Commission requested the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) to assess the risk of transmitting PRRS via fresh pig meat to naive pig populations, which may be exposed...

Reducing variability in weight of pigs at slaughter
By Dr Niamh O'Connell, Agricultural Research Institute of Northern Ireland. This article reports on investigations as to whether it is possible to reduce variability in weight at slaughter by using different regrouping regimes.

From Sustainability to Sustained Ability
By the National Pig Association - This report is a Strategy for Continuous Professional Development within the Pig Production Industry in England.

Increasing Slaughter Weights - Profit or Peril?
By Sandra Edwards, School of Agriculture, Food & Rural Development, University of Newcastle - To survive in an increasingly global market for pigmeat, all pig producers need to produce a desirable product at a competitive price. However, the recent BPEX...

Dealing With Variability in the Finishing Barn
By J.F. Patience, H.W. Gonyou and R.T. Zijlstra, and published by the Prairie Swine Center - Variation is becoming an increasingly important topic of discussion in the pork industry. Differences in growth impact the time that is required to empty a pen,...

Tips for Improving Returns
By D.L. Whittington and J.F. Patience and published by the Prairie Swine Center - Lowering your cost of production and increasing revenues is more than just good business; for many producers this is the key to surviving the current market situation. Ideally,...

Water: Optimizing performance while reducing waste
By Glen Almond, NCSU Swine Extension - Due to the relative abundance of water and its “low price”, there previously was little demand for research on the role of water and water delivery systems in US pork production, and specifically with applications...

Military case study aims to make meat more competitive
By the Food Chain Centre - Providing 3 meals a day for the RAF on a budget of £1.80 per person requires tight cost control and slick logistics. The budget, referred to as the ‘Daily Messing Rate’, hinges on the cost of the main ingredients, especially...

Do We Need Large-Scale Confinement Animal Feeding Operations?
By John Ikerd, Professor Emeritus, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO - This paper was presented at Food and Society Networking Conference, panel on Revitalizing Non-Confinement Raised Meats, sponsored by the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, Olympic Valley,...

Stretching farrow-to-finish to encompass the 'Danish way'
Don Stoneman, Better Pork Magazine visits the Bloxsidges of Holbrook to review their success in adopting some of the techniques pioneered by Danish producer Henrik Jensen. But they are finding that the idea of weaning a gilt of her piglets and replacing...