With the help of The National Pork Quality Project, the pork industry is one step closer to a pork quality classification system that can be used to evaluate the ultimate meat quality of pork carcasses.

The project was conducted to determine if quality defects could be properly and cost-effectively identified in carcasses. Bob Kauffman, emeritus professor of animal science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, led the carcass-evaluation study, assisted by 20 animal-science students at UW-Madison”s College of Agricultural and Life Sciences. “This project was the perfect blend of industry and academia. The students got exposure to a huge industry problem,” says Kauffman.

Pork quality problems cost the industry millions of dollars every year. Consumer preference tests prove that people want pork that is eye-appealing, firm, and pinkish-red in color, but meat from some carcasses, while wholesome, doesn”t meet these standards. This study was intended to improve the evaluation system so that pork packers could more efficiently segregate carcasses and cuts on the basis of their ultimate quality for further processing. Furthermore, using feedback from carcass evaluations, swine producers could work to improve pork quality through improved genetics and management.

This project involved more than 70 people, representing five universities, nine pork packers, three swine breeding companies and the USDA. They teamed up to coordinate a procedure that used pH, light reflectance, temperature and other measures to predict quality variations at eight U.S. pork packing companies.

The students spent five weeks collecting data from plants in six states. They evaluated ham and loin muscles of more than 1,200 pork carcasses for pH, light reflectance, temperature, percent drip loss, color, marbling and firmness. The students” instrument arsenal included color meters, impedance meters, fiber-optic probes, pH probes and coring devices. “We received a very positive attitude from all the meat packing companies,” says Kauffman. “We just had to name what we needed and the plants would help us get it.”

The students found that when using either ham or loin probes of pH and light reflectance, they could classify about 56 percent of the observations into one of four quality classes: PSE (pale, soft, exudative); RSE (reddish-pink, soft, exudative); RFN (reddish-pink, firm, non-exudative); and DFD (dark, firm and dry). This improved to 76 percent when just ”desirable” (RFN + DFD) and ”undesirable” (PSE + RSE) classifications were used. If the pH could be assessed accurately, DFD could be segregated from RFN. Thus, three of the four pork quality classes could be successfully identified. (Until methods to predict water-holding capacity are improved, it”s impossible to segregate RSE from RFN using probes, Kauffman notes.)

The students tallied and reported their pork quality assessments to the packing companies. They also created an informational packet that described the pork quality classification procedure. The packet will help pork producers and assist pork packing plants in sorting for quality.

The quality-classification procedure is also economical. Kauffman estimated the cost per carcass for in-plant sorting at 7 cents, and for maintaining identity to provide feedback to swine producers at 8 cents. Compared with the $150 million that the pork industry loses annually – a potential loss of $1.67 per carcass – the procedure would save money for producers and packers.

Kauffman and the UW-Madison students presented their findings in July at the Pork Quality Summit Symposium sponsored by the National Pork Producers Council. “The industry was very pleased with the report,” says Kauffman. “I believe that within two or three years it will be in place in some form in packing plants around the country. What was so important about this project was the putting together and melding together of an industry need with student education,” he says.

The National Pork Quality Project was made possible by the National Pork Producers Council and coordinators in the participating packing plants.

Copies of the report and more information on the study are available from Bob Kauffman, UW-Madison Department of Animal Sciences, 1675 Observatory Drive, Madison, WI 53706, phone (608) 262-0875, rgkauffm@facstaff.wisc.edu