H. W. Ockerman1*, F. León Crespo2, H. Galan Solvedilla2,
A. Peralta Fernandez2, N. Ciudad Gonzalez2, B. Balderas
Zubeldia2, F. Cespedes Sanchez2, A. Martin Serrano2,
and M. C. Torres Munoz2
1 The Ohio State University Department of Animal Sciences
2 University of Córdoba, Spain
Strain of pigs, feeding program, animal age, and production environment had a significant influence on many biochemical properties on dry cured hams studied in this research.
Meat from the Ibérico breed of hogs presents different characteristics from commercial pork. The Ibérico pigs are aged animals, always castrated, and grown under extensive production practices. The breed effect is considered to be very important by Spanish pig producers, who maintain their own breeding programs and register books (Dieguez Carbayo, 1992). Within the Ibérico breed, it is possible to distinguish many strains that present differences in results of commercial cut yields (Aparicio Macarro, 1987).
The Ibérico pigs are usually grown to a minimum of 12 to 18 months compared to commercial pork that is slaughtered at five to seven months. Therefore, a specific effect due to age is present. As the animal gets older, there is an increase in oxidative metabolism in the muscle fibers, increasing the color of meat and the tendency toward "dark, firm, and dry" (DFD) muscle tissue (Lawrie, 1974). The traditional production of this breed imposes castration which slows growth, reduces efficiency, and makes the carcasses fatter (Gerrard and Mallion, 1977). Due to the normal exercise of these animals that are feed in fields, there is a higher vascular system development in their muscles, resulting in increased blood supply.
This study included a total of 699 animals from five different strains of the Ibérico breed, which were grouped into lots in montanera (mountain) areas. They were fed commercial feed (feed lot) or combined natural feed plus feed lot, slaughtered at different times (from 12 to 18 months of age), and grown in different environments (four different farms, during a three-year span).
Meat samples taken from the Psoas muscle were analyzed for moisture, protein, fat, ash, phosphate, pH, NPN, total water-soluble proteins, total soluble pigments, CRA index (compression on filter paper method), and thiobarbituric acid (TBA) index.
Strain had a significant effect on most of the studied parameters except for total fat, total phosphate, CRA index, and TBA index. Feeding type influenced all the studied parameters except total pigments. Age and production environment had a significant effect on all the studied parameters.
The mean values of the studied parameters are shown in Table 1.
Table 1. Mean Values of Meat from the Ibérico Pigs.1 |
|||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Moisture (%) |
Protein (%) |
Fat (%) |
Ash (%) |
Phosphate (mg/g) |
pH | NPN (%) |
Water Soluble Proteins (%) |
Total Pigments (OD) |
CRA Index (1/S) |
TBA Index (OD) |
|
| Number of Animals | 699 | 699 | 699 | 699 | 699 | 699 | 699 | 699 | 699 | 699 | 699 |
| Mean | 72.29 | 26.16 | 0.96 | 1.02 | 238 | 6.06 | 0.27 | 7.47 | 0.188 | 0.737 | 0.770 |
| SD | 1.87 | 1.40 | 0.87 | 0.15 | 35 | 0.29 | 0.07 | 1.25 | 0.041 | 0.205 | 0.440 |
| 1 NPN = Non=protein nitrogen, OD = optical density, CRA index = compression on filter paper method, TBA = thiobarbituric acid, and SD = standard deviation. | |||||||||||
Aparicio Macarro, J. 1987. El Cerdo Ibérico. Sanchez Romero Carvajal Jabugo S.A.
Dieguez Carbayo, E. 1992. Historia, evolución y situación actual del cerdo ibérico. In: El Cerdo Ibérico, la Naturaleza, la Dehesa. Ed. MAPA, Madrid.
Gerrard, F. and Mallion, F. J., Ed. 1977. The Complete Book of Meat. Virtue, Surrey, U.K.
Lawrie, R. A. 1974. Meat Science. 2nd Ed. Pergamon Press, New York.
* Collaborative research with the Agricultural University
of Wroclaw, Poland.
1 For more information, contact at: The Ohio State University 15 Animal
Science, 2029 Fyffe Road, Columbus, OH 43210, (614) 292-4317, Fax (614) 292-2929;
email:ockerman.2@osu.edu