Article

Investigation of physicochemical and sensory quality differences in pork belly and shoulder butt cuts with different quality grades

Hoa Van Ba1, Kuk-Hwan Seol1, Hyun-woo Seo1, Sunmoon Kang1, Yunseok Kim1, Pilnam seong1, Sungsil Moon2, Jinhyoung Kim1, Soohyun Cho1,*
Author Information & Copyright
1National Institute of Agricultural Sciences, RDA, Wanju 55365, Korea, Wanju 55365, Korea.
2Research and Development Division, Korean Institute of Animal Products Quality Evaluation, Sejong 30100, Korea.
*Corresponding Author: Soohyun Cho, National Institute of Agricultural Sciences, RDA, Wanju 55365, Korea, Wanju 55365, Korea, E-mail: shc0915@korea.kr.

© Copyright 2020 Korean Society for Food Science of Animal Resources. This is an Open-Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Received: Aug 20, 2020 ; Revised: Nov 12, 2020 ; Accepted: Nov 16, 2020

Published Online: Nov 23, 2020

Abstract

The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of quality grade (QG) on the physicochemical composition and eating quality attributes of pork belly and shoulder butt. Seventy-two growing-finishing crossbred pigs were slaughtered and their carcasses were graded according to the Korean pork carcass grading system. Based on the grading criteria, the carcasses were classified into: QG1+ (n=23), QG1 (n=23) and QG2 (n=26) groups. At 24 h postmortem, belly and shoulder butt cuts were collected from the QG groups and used for analysis of meat quality, flavor compounds and eating quality attributes. Results showed that the variation in fat content among QG was approximately 2% in the both cut types. The QG showed no effects on all the quality traits: cooking loss, pH and color of the belly or shoulder butt (p>0.05). Thirty-five flavor compounds comprising mainly fatty acids oxidation/degradation-derived products (e.g., aldehydes) and only few Maillard reaction-derived products (e.g., sulfur-and nitrogen-containing compounds) were identified. However, the QG showed a minor effect on the flavor profiles in both the belly and shoulder butt. Regarding the sensory quality, no effects of the QG were found on all the eating quality attributes (color, flavor, juiciness, tenderness and acceptability) for both the belly and shoulder butt cuts (p>0.05). Thus, it may be concluded that the current pork carcass grading standards do not reflect the real quality and value of the belly and shoulder butt cuts.

Keywords: Quality grade; Pork; Belly; Shoulder butt; Eating quality