Welfare–Friendly Husbandry through Genetics: Animal Well-Being
Gene polymorphisms influencing stress reactivity open the way to marker-assisted selection to reduce stress and improve robustness of animals, contributing to animal well-being as well as improved product quality, according to the final scientific report...

Reducing Boar Taint through Breeding: Pork Quality
The final scientific report from the EU group, Sustainable Animal Breeding (SABRE), subtitled 'Cutting Edge Genomics for Sustainable Animal Breeding', explains how the latest genomics tools are being used to reduce the problem of boar taint by breedi...

Pork Fat Quality, Iodine Values and Feeding DDGS
Pig meat processors are focusing on carcass fat quality by determining iodine value, according to Tom Guthrie, Extension Educator in Jackson, Colorado and Dale W. Rozeboom, Extension Specialist at Michigan State University's Department of Animal Science...

Building Trust through Quality Assurance
Building success in the market, both domestically and internationally, is based on building trust in the quality and safety of products and now more importantly trust in the ethical correctness of production, writes ThePigSite editor in chief, Chris ...

Boar Taint and its Control
Boar taint explained, along with some suggestions on its control are offered in Target Meat Quality No. 6 from BPEX.

Dietary Linoleic Acid Content Can Predict Carcass Fat Quality
Dietary C18:2n-6 (linoleic acid) content was a better predictor of carcass fat iodine value than diet iodine value, according to researchers based at Kansas State University.

Report Re-Examines Link between Meat Intake and Human Cancers
A major analysis of the sometimes contradictory scientific evidence by the World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) concludes that high red meat consumption increases the risk of bowel cancer, while high white meat consumption does not, the Soil Association...

Raporal Makes Tastier Pork
Every day, four trucks leave from the Raporal factory, on the outskirts of Montijo in Portugal to the warehouses of Jerónimo Martins (JM).

Iodine Value and its Impact on Pork Quality
Joel DeRouchey, Mike Tokach, Steve Dritz, Bob Goodband and Jim Nelssen of Kansas State University explain how 'pork quality' may be quantified in terms of the iodine value of carcass fat. Their paper was presented at the Swine Profitability Conference...

Rachitic Rosaries and Rib Nodules
Rib nodules found on pig carcasses at a processing plant were more likely to have been caused by previous injury than nutrient deficiency, according to Drs Steve S. Dritz and Jerome C. Nietfeld of Kansas State University in a paper presented at the Swine...

Feeding Strategies to Improve Carcass Quality When Using DDGS
While distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS) are a valuable feed ingredient, their inclusion needs to be managed in a feeding programme to avoid carcass quality issues, writes swine nutritionist, Greg Simpson in the latest Pork News and Views from...

Enriching Pork Products with Omega-3 Fatty Acids May Affect Pork Quality
Feeding co-extruded flax seed to increase the alpha linoleic acid content in loin muscle did not result in levels sufficient to meet label requirements in Canada, report A.D. Beaulieu, M.E.R. Dugan and M. Juarez in the Prairie Swine Research Centre Annual...

Impact of Feeding Diets Containing Extruded Flaxseed Meal and Vitamin E in Finishing Swine
A diet containing five per cent flax seed, fed as a 50:50 co-extruded pea/flax seed blend increased the omega-3 content of pork fat, report A.D. Beaulieu, M.E.R. Dugan and M. Juarez in the Prairie Swine Research Centre Annual Report 2009.

Effects of Transport Conditions and Vehicle Design on the Welfare and Meat Quality of Pigs in Canada
When transporting hogs to market, pigs in the bottom front compartment had the highest heart rate measures at unloading, and also produced the highest incidence of DFD pork, according to J. Brown, T. Crowe, S. Torrey, R. Bergeron, T. Widowski, J. Correa,...

Castration in the Swine Industry and the Impact on Growth Performance – Physical versus Vaccination
Frank Dunshea of the University of Melbourne, Australia, gave a thorough review of the impacts of castration (both physical and by vaccination) on the performance of male pigs at the London Swine Conference 2010. He also covered the important practical...

EU Study Does Not Recommend End to Castration in the Short Term
A report for the European Commission's DG SANCO concludes that there should be no ban on pig castration in the EU in the short-term but that a combination of different strategies is required to find a solution to balance aspects of animal welfare with...

Carcass Chilling Affects Meat Quality
The chilling rate of a pig carcass impacts pork quality in a number of ways – especially on destructured hams defect – according to research carried out in France.

Nutritional Value of Flaxseed for Swine and its Effects on Carcass Fatty Acid Profile
Flaxseed meal is a novel protein source that can be incorporated into pig diets, according to L. Eastwood and Dr D. Beaulieu in the latest Centred on Swine from the Prairie Swine Research Centre. A high-quality extruded product fed at up to 15...

Meat Quality Issues Discussed at Kansas Conference
Needle-free jet injection systems may increase the occurrence of injection site abscesses in pork carcasses that will need to be trimmed in pork processing plants, according to one paper presented at Kansas Swine Day 2009, and another revealed that glycerol...

Feeding Co-Extruded Flaxseed to Pigs: Effects of Duration and Feeding Level on Growth Performance and Backfat Fatty Acid Composition of Grow-Finish Pigs
Feeding a co-extracted flaxseed:pea mixture can be used to optimise enrichments of n-3 fatty acids in the back fat of pigs, report A.D. Beaulieu, M.E.R. Dugan, M. Juarez and J.F. Patience in the 2008 Annual Research Report from the Prairie Swine Centre....

Stress Responses and Meat Quality of Pigs Transported in a Pot-Belly Truck During Summer and Winter
Pigs transported in the bottom nose portion of a pot-belly trailer showed the greatest degree of stress due to the amount of ramps the pigs had to use during loading and unloading, report J.A. Correa and co-authors in the 2008 Annual Research Report from...

Astaxanthin Affects Carcass Characteristics But Not Growth Performance of Finishing Pigs
The performance of pigs fed astaxanthin was not different from that of pigs fed the control diet but the improved carcass characteristics could be economically beneficial to pork producers, according to J.R. Bergstorm and co-authors in a paper given at...

Genotype Effect on the Palatability of the Pork Loin
Pork loin from Mangalitza pigs was more tender than that from other breeds, according to Heincinger and co-authors in this paper from Hungary.