Relationship of Fat Quality and Meat Quality Traits of Fresh Pork

Abstract

<p>Barrows and gilts (n=347) of 5 purebred lines and one commercial crossbred line were fed commercial swine diets with dried distillers grains with solubles (DDGS) inclusion at 30% of dry matter. For the final 30 days of feeding, DDGS were removed from the diet. Pigs were harvested at a minimal weight of 111.4 kg. At harvest, fat was collected from the back, belly, and jowl, and meat samples were taken from the longissimus muscle for evaluation of fat and meat quality characteristics. Jowl fat iodine values were significant predictors of back and belly fat iodine values, and increases in iodine value of the fat of the pork chop were moderately and negatively correlated with several measures of meat quality. This study demonstrates that iodine value of fat from one anatomical location (i.e., back and belly) can be predicted from iodine value of a less valuable anatomical location (i.e., jowl), and, additionally, increases in iodine value correlate negatively with predictors of meat quality.</p>