Effects of feed treatment and gender on the flavour and texture profiles of cured and uncured pork cuts. I. Ractopamine treatment and dietary protein level

Abstract

Equal numbers of barrows (64) and gilts (64) were randomly allocated to two separate diets containing 17·6 and 19·6% crude protein. Subsequently within each gender/diet treatment group, pigs were equally and randomly assigned to two ractopamine treatment groups (i.e. 0 or 20 ppm ractopamine), resulting in 16 pigs per gender/diet/ractopamine subgroup. The feeding trial lasted an average of 41 days, and the pigs went on trial at an average weight of 64·5 kg and were slaughtered at an average weight of 98·2 kg. Five barrows and five gilts were subsampled at random from each gender/diet/ractopamine subgroup for palatability evaluations. Comprehensive palatability evaluations were conducted on both cured and uncured pork cuts. Results revealed no meaningful differences in flavour, texture, or cooking properties attributable to dietary protein level (17·6 vs 19·6% crude protein) or to ractopamine. Thus, within the context of conditions employed in the present study, ractopamine can be administered with different dietary crude protein levels to improve production efficiency and carcass composition, without influencing palatability and cooking properties or consumer acceptance. Gender effects have been reported elsewhere (Jeremiah et al., 1994).