The prevalence of PSE characteristics in pork and cooked ham — Effects of season and lairage time

A total of 180 pigs was slaughtered in the same slaughterhouse, but divided in six different trials distributed over Winter (December–March) and Summer (April–September). Meat quality measurements (pH, electrical conductivity, color and/or water-holding capacity) were carried out 30 min, 24 and/or 35 h after slaughter in three different muscles: M. gracilis, M. semimembranosus and M. longissimus dorsi. A tendency towards a higher proportion of PSE meat during Summer was found in the examined muscles. Moreover a higher protein, higher dry matter content, a lower water/protein ratio and a lower slicing yield were found for the cooked hams suggesting a higher PSE prevalence in the Summer. A lairage time between 2 and 4 h during Summer and less than 2 h during Winter was related to a lower proportion of PSE meat. The correlation coefficients between the individual meat quality variables were moderate, but showed the predictive power of the pH measured 24 h post-mortem in the M. gracilis for meat quality.