Iva Steinhauserová

Carcass and meat quality of selected final hybrids of pigs in the Czech Republic

The objective of this work was to compare the quality of carcass and meat in the selected crossbred pigs used in the Czech Republic. A total of 200 pigs that arose from four crossbreeding was studied; the dam line was in all combination of hybrids represented by Czech Large White × Landrace. Sire line included Large White × Belgian Landrace (I), Hampshire × Pietrain (II), Duroc × Pietrain (III) and Czech meat pig (IV). Influence of crossbreeding on lean meat percentage and muscle depth was statistically highly significant (P<0.001), influence on fat depth was evident (P<0.05). Differences in pH(1) value among the individual final hybrids were not statistically significant but variance of pH(24) value was highly notable (P<0.001). All colour parameters (L(∗), a(∗), b(∗) values), drip loss and exudate also were influenced by hybrid combination (P<0.001). Influence of crossbreeding on intramuscular fat content was not statistically significant (P=0.067). Higher content of intramuscular fat was determined in the hybrids with Duroc breed in sire line. In the whole group, 8.5% pig with PSE defect was found. By comparison of all the various hybridisation, positive influence of Hampshire breed on the carcass quality and negative influence on meat quality was confirmed. On the other hand, meat quality is positively influenced Duroc and Czech meat pig breeds.

Combined antimicrobial effect of oregano essential oil and caprylic acid in minced beef.

Oregano essential oil (OEO) and caprylic acid (CA) are highly aromatic natural antimicrobials with limited individual application in food. We proved their combined additive effect when used in meat. Application of 0.5% CA and 0.2% OEO (v/w) with 0.1% of citric acid in vacuum packed minced beef inoculated with Listeria monocytogenes at a concentration of 5 log cells/g reduced counts of lactic acid bacteria by 1.5 log CFU/g and counts of psychrotrophic bacteria and L. monocytogenes by more than 2.5 log CFU/g at the end of storage at 3°C for 10 days. In sensory evaluation the samples with OEO showed during the whole experiment statistically better scores than control, whereas the samples treated with CA showed worse colour attributes.