Relationships of genotype and slaughter time with the appearance and texture of dry-cured hams

Effect of Iberian × Duroc genotype on composition and sensory properties of dry‐cured ham

“…Thus the darker and less intense red colour of the BF of dry-cured hams from GEN3 is expected to affect their acceptability among consumers who prefer dry-cured hams with an intense red colour. 5 The colour of drycured ham is influenced by several factors related to muscle composition and oxidation intensity, such as moisture, fat and haem pigment contents, oxidative status and nitrite content. 20 Since no significant differences in a * value were found in BF from the same pigs before processing 12 and the chemical composition of dry-cured BF did not differ between genotypes in the present study, the differences in the colour of dry-cured BF could be caused by factors other than chemical composition, such as oxidative processes of haem pigments.…”

“…García-Rey et al 5,33 showed that a low post mortem pH and some pig genotypes resulted in defective texture in dry-cured hams, such as pastiness and softness, which are undesirable in dry-cured ham. Similarly, in a previous paper 12 the lowest post mortem pH values were reached in BF from GEN3, which corresponds with the higher fibrousness and lower juiciness of hams from GEN3 reported here.…”

“…4 On the other hand, dry-cured ham quality is strongly affected by its textural and mechanical properties, which are mainly determined by the characteristics of the raw material and the genotype. 5 The market for dry-cured products from the Iberian pig has recently been regulated. 6 One aspect that the law regulates is the pig genotype for the manufacture of Iberian meat products.…”

Use of multivariate analysis to evaluate genetic groups of pigs for dry-cured ham production

“…Pure Duroc breed animals and crossbreeds of Durocs with Landrace and Large White animals have been used in high-quality dry-cured ham production (Garcia-Rey et al, 2004). However Duroc animals are inappropriate for industrial use at 160 kg live weight due to their low feed efficiency on the farm, excess fat on the carcass, as well as occurrence of deep seated hair on the hams (Peloso et al, 2010).…”

“…Several studies have been carried out to investigate the influence of genotype on ham traits (Candek-Potokar et al, 2002;Carrapiso and García, 2008;Cilla et al, 2005;Garcia-Rey et al, 2004;Guerrero et al, 1996;Peloso et al, 2010). However, all of these studies used univariate analysis techniques, which are limited because they do not take into consideration possible correlations among the investigated traits.…”