Masking strategies to avoid the boar taint in meat products

Abstract

Surgery to castrate male pigs can be substituted by the manufacture of "entire males". However, the meat of whole male animals may have an unpleasant sexual odor, i.e. - boar taint. The purpose of this paper was to demonstrate how to use masking techniques on meat that has a noticeable boar taint during the processing stage. Smoke has frequently been implicated as a method for hiding boar taint in many types of meat products. Meat items may be smoked naturally using a traditional method or artificially using liquid smoke. Another method for hiding the boar taint in meat products is the addition of spices. Strong-smelling spices, such as paprika, chili, oregano, thyme, rosemary, mint, and cinnamon, can help to mask the stench of swine taint. Also, the use of essential oils in conjunction with spices and herbal extracts helps to mask the boar taint in meat products. Moreover, some of the recent publications focused on the investigation of yeast inoculation as a method for hiding boar taint.

The Effect of the Boar Taint Masking Strategy (Adding Dried Origanum vulgare or Allium sativum) on Sensory Characteristics

“…Different types of boar taint masking strategies appear to effectively reduce boar taint perception in both pork and pork products. Masking strategies include the use of different types of herbs and spices, such as garlic ( Allium sativum ), bay leaves ( Laurus nobilis ), clove ( Syzygium aromaticum ), oregano ( Origanum vulgare ), nutmeg ( Myristica fragans ), marjoram herb ( Origanum majorana ), coriander ( Coriandrum sativum L.) and ginger ( Zingiber officinale ) [ 16 , 17 , 18 ]. In addition to spices, smoke has often been recommended as a good masking agent for boar taint.…”