Review: Pork belly quality, bacon properties and recent consumer trends

Abstract

Soladoye, P. O., Shand, P. J., Aalhus, J. L., Garie´py, C. and Jua´rez, M. 2015. Review: Pork belly quality, bacon properties and recent consumer trends. Can. J. Anim. Sci. 95: 325Á340. Several factors can affect pork belly quality and, subsequently, bacon quality. Going by the recent trends in the bacon market and bearing in mind the more choosy nature of the consuming populace, it is imperative to consider the factors that can affect or improve bacon quality, thereby sustaining the current market surge. In as much as both genetic and environmental factors have been identified as largely affecting muscle food quality, nutritional interventions also seem to be a very viable tool to improve the quality of meat and its products. Processing and storage methods can also affect bacon quality, including microbial quality, physicochemical attributes and palatability. Both objective and subjective measures have been explored in assessing belly quality, most of which use belly softness and fatty acid profile as yardsticks, whereas bacon quality has been widely assessed only subjectively in terms of fat quality and slice integrity. Although consumers' and producers' quality perceptions seem to be in conflict, it is the responsibility of all stakeholders in the bacon industries to come together in ensuring a balanced approach to satisfy both parties along the production chain.Key words: Belly softness, environmental factors, genetic factors, nutritional factors, bacon quality Soladoye, P. O., Shand, P. J., Aalhus, J. L., Garie´py, C. et Jua´rez, M. 2015. Article de synthe`se: La qualite´de poitrine de porc, les caracte´ristiques du bacon et les tendances re´centes des consommateurs. Can. J. Anim. Sci. 95: 325Á340. Plusieurs facteurs peuvent influencer la qualite´de poitrine de porc et donc, par conse´quent, la qualite´du bacon. Selon les tendances re´centes dans le marche´du bacon, gardant a`l'esprit la nature plus se´lective des consommateurs, il est impe´ratif de prendre en conside´ration les facteurs qui peuvent influencer ou ame´liorer la qualite´du bacon, et ainsi soutenir l'e´lan courant du marche´. Dans la mesure que les facteurs ge´ne´tiques et environnementaux ayant un effet sur la qualite´de viande ont e´teí dentifie´s, les interventions nutritionnelles semblent un outil viable pour ame´liorer la qualite´de la viande et de ses produits. Les me´thodes de traitement et d'entreposage peuvent aussi avoir un effet sur la qualite´du bacon, incluant la qualiteḿ icrobienne, les caracte´ristiques physico-chimiques et la palatabilite´. Des mesures objectives et subjectives ont e´teé xplore´es pour e´valuer la qualite´de poitrine, dont la plupart utilisent la douceur de la poitrine et le profil d'acides gras comme jalon, tandis que la qualite´du bacon est largement e´value´e seulement en termes subjectifs comme la qualite´du gras et l'inte´grite´de la coupe. Bien que la perception de qualite´des consommateurs et des producteurs semblent contradictoires, il est la responsabilite´de tous les intervenants des industries du bac...

Effects of pork differentiation strategies in Canada on pig performance and carcass characteristics

“…Softer fat may lead to low fabrication efficiency, oily appearance at retail, and reduced product shelf life (Soladoye et al 2015). Fatty acid composition has been generally identified as the main factor responsible for fat hardness (Soladoye et al 2015). Thus, the lower hardness scores observed in carcasses from animals fed the experimental diets (canola and flax) can be explained by the increase in dietary mono-and poly-unsaturated fatty acids (Miller et al 1990;Dugan et al 2001;Caine et al 2007;Juárez et al 2010).…”

“…Softer fat may lead to low fabrication efficiency, oily appearance at retail, and reduced product shelf life (Soladoye et al 2015). Fatty acid composition has been generally identified as the main factor responsible for fat hardness (Soladoye et al 2015).…”

Natural antioxidants as food and feed additives to promote health benefits and quality of meat products: A review

“…n-3 Fatty acids, especially long chain n-3 PUFA, are known to reduce the risk of many diseases, such as arteriosclerosis, coronary heart disease, inflammatory diseases, and possibly behavioral disorders (Connor, 2000). Feeding pigs dried distillers grain with solubles (DDGS) has been shown to increase PUFA iodine value (Soladoye, Shand, Aalhus, Gariepy, & Juarez, 2015). However, an excessive amount of PUFA deposition could compromise the textural quality of pork belly (softness) intended for bacon.…”

A Review of the Principles and Applications of Near-Infrared Spectroscopy to Characterize Meat, Fat, and Meat Products

“…Increased concentrations of unsaturated FA can lead to soft fat, processing problems, reduced quality and shelf life of processed pork products, and an inability to meet fresh pork export specifications. 59 Consequently, soft fat is deemed undesirable in multiple countries, such as Canada, 60 the United States, 61 and the European Union. 62 In fact, soft fat is the main cause for downgrading and lowered price in Japan due to its reduced sliceability and lower processing quality, 63 particularly in bacon manufacturing.…”