Factors affecting the tissues composition of pork belly

Abstract

Bellies derived from the commercial population of pig carcasses are diverse in terms of tissue composition. Knowledge of the factors influencing it and the expected results, permits quick and easy evaluation of raw material. The study was designed to determine the factors affecting the tissues composition of pork bellies and to estimate their lean meat content. The research population (n = 140 pig carcasses) was divided into groups according to sex (gilts, barrows), half-carcass mass (<40, 40 to 43.9, 44 to 46.9, ⩾ 47 kg) and lean meat content class: S (⩾60%), E (55% to 60%), U (50% to 55%), R (<50%). Bellies were subjected to a detailed dissection. Half-carcass mass affected the levels of all the analysed parameters. The only exception was the mass of the fat with the skin in the 40 to 43.9 kg group, for which the value did not differ statistically between the two groups <40 and 44 to 46.9 kg. Decrease in lean meat content affected the growth of the fat and skin mass in a linear way. No differences were observed between class S and E in terms of belly muscle mass. A 0.37% higher share of belly in the half-carcass was found for barrows ( P < 0.001), although bellies issued from barrows were characterized by a higher proportion of fat with skin compared with gilts ( P = 0.02). Interactions were observed between sex and half-carcass mass, so the sex of heavy half-carcasses becomes an important determinant for conditioning the muscle content. Equations were calculated and allow a fast and highly accurate determination of the lean meat content in bellies, suggesting they may be used directly in the production line.

Variability of Fresh Pork Belly Quality Evaluation Results Depends on Measurement Locations

“…The highest number of statistically significant P ≤ 0.05 strong and moderate correlations (Huff-Lonergan et al, 2002) was noted for location D3. On the other hand, the lowest number of such correlations (Duziński et al, 2015) was observed for four locations: D1, M4, A2, and A1. In general terms, the weakest correlation was demonstrated in the abdominal plane, and the strongest in the dorsal plane.…”

“…Full evaluation of physical and sensory qualitative feature characteristics and their dependencies can be used to obtain precise processing and consumer information about this element. Unfortunately, bellies from mass populations are currently characterized by differentiation of tissue composition (Duziński et al 2015). Additionally, the fat and meat distribution in the belly is heterogeneous and highly dependent on the location and also the selection of the population (Fredeen 1980;Brewer et al 1995;Correa et al 2006;Trusell et al 2011).…”

“…This is also due to the presence of visible individual tissues, depending on the location, which is a consequence of the different tissue-to-tissue ratio. This is particularly important for the belly, as it is a highly structured element (Bahelka et al 2011;Trusell et al 2011;Duziński et al 2015). Therefore, measurements on internal and external sites were used.…”

“…IS -internal site, ES -external site, WHC -water holding capacity, CL -cooking loss Fig. 4 PCA of analyzed quality parameters of fresh belly independent of location The technological value of primal cuts determines their further use (Duziński et al 2015;Knecht et al 2016a). Meat content in bellies has a direct impact on their processing and consumer acceptance (Bahelka et al 2011).…”

“…A quick estimation of the belly value allows an immediate determination of the value. The import and export of pork require the adaptation of the batch of products offered for a strictly defined purpose (Duziński et al 2015). Identifying quality deviations at the processing level often determines significant losses in profitability in the downstream production chain, due to lower processing capacities and a higher percentage of inferior products (Person et al 2005).…”