Zlata Maltar

Carcass leanness of pigs in Croatia estimated by EU referent method

Abstract The experiment was performed on 146 swine carcasses slaughtered at several Croatian slaughterhouses, selected according to backfat measures obtained by method for lean percentage prediction approved in Croatia (NN 40/2007). One day after slaughter left sides of the carcasses were dissected according to EU reference method (Commission Regulation No 3127/94, Walstra and Merkus, 1996). The dissected lean percentage was assessed using the formulae prescribed in EU Regulation from 1994 (Commission Regulation (EC) No 3127/94) and 2006 (Commission Regulation (EC) No 1197/2006). There were statistically significant differences between the lean shares estimated by Croatian prediction routine and assessed by both previous and current European regulation (p<0.01). When pig carcasses were classified by SEUROP system based on the lean percentage established by three mentioned methods, the distribution into quality classes was markedly different. It was concluded that because of substantial difference between the procedures for estimation of dissected lean percentage (51.00 vs 56.32%) further investigations on that matter are suggested. Croatian lean meat prediction equation significantly differed from dissected lean expressed by both European assessment methods and needs to be adjusted.