Boar meat tested in 4 European countries

The researchers hailed altogether from 7 different countries in Europe and spoke of ‘patties’ in their research, which is presented in Meat Science in early 2018.

Consumers in 4 countries testing boar patties

The researchers approached consumers in Denmark, France, Italy and Poland, where a total of 476 female consumers evaluated 8 meat ‘patties’ from boars with varying levels of skatole (0.10-0.40 μg/g fat tissue) and androstenone (0.47-2.00 μg/g fat tissue), in a pair-wise comparison with patties from castrates.

The scientists concluded that boar meat patties were always less preferred than the castrate meat patties, regardless of the level of androstenone and skatole. Acceptability of the boar meat patties decreased with increasing skatole level, the scientists added in their summary.

In samples with low skatole levels, higher levels of androstenone also reduced acceptability among androstenone sensitive consumers.

Clear tresholds difficult to identify

The scientists were not able to identify any clear threshold levels for androstenone and skatole. Maps presenting the reduction in preference due to increasing levels of skatole and androstenone, and corrected for the general acceptance of the meat product were developed, taking into account androstenone sensitivity.

The scientists wrote that further work is needed, covering the whole range of androstenone and skatole levels found in entire male pigs and for a wider set of meat products.

The research paper was authored by M. Aluwé and F.A.M. Tuyttens, Research Institute for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (ILVO), Belgium; M. Aaslyng, Danish Meat Research Institute (DMRI), Denmark; G. Backus, Connecting Agri & Food, the Netherlands; M. Bonneau and P. Chevillon, French Pork and Pig Institute (IFIP), France; J.-E. Haugen, Nofima, Norway; L. Meier-Dinkel and D. Mörlein, Georg-August-Universität and ISI, Germany; M.A. Oliver, and M. Font-i-Furnols, Research & Technology Food & Agriculture (IRTA), Spain; and M.A. Snoek, Wageningen University and Research, the Netherlands.