Abstract

ROMERO PENUELA, Marlyn Hellen  and  SANCHEZ VALENCIA, Jorge Alberto. EVALUATION OF RISK FACTORS OF PALE, SOFT AND EXUDATIVE (PSE) MEAT DUE TO PRE-SLAUGHTER CONDITIONS IN PIGS. Biosalud [online]. 2015, vol.14, n.1, pp.57-68. ISSN 1657-9550.  https://doi.org/10.17151/biosa.2015.14.1.7.

The goal of this study was to determine the effect of pigs' pre-slaughter handling on incidence of pale soft exudative (PSE) meat and describe risk factors. A total of 20 variables related to transport and pre-slaughter conditions were recorded over a three months period. A total of 134 lots (3,156 pigs) from a Colombian commercial slaughterhouse were studied. A multivariate logistic regression was used to identify the risk factors prior to slaughter. The pork quality was described as a binomial response (1: normal meat, 2: PSE condition). The incidence of PSE was 5.8%. The results indicate that weight, time of stay in the slaughter house and the presence of skin bruising increase the risk of PSE condition (p < 0.05). A downtime from 12.1 to 36 hours at the slaughterhouse increased the incidence of PSE condition from 4.3 to 9.9 times compared to downtime periods between 4 and 12 hours. Besides, the weight of pigs is a risk factor which increased the incidence of PSE condition (p < 0.05). However, the transport time was not related to low pH values.

Keywords : downtime; meat quality; pigs; stress.

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