Combination of markers to control meat quality - 31.10.2011

Research shows that it is recommended to use more than one marker to evaluate and control meat quality.

Fast, cheap and reliable tests are required to predict meat quality traits. Researchers from the Q-PorkChains project have exploited the variation in meat quality traits in the whole chain from farm to fork in an attempt to produce high added value meat and meat products in the future. The results shows that more than one marker of quality trait is required to predict meat quality. Thus, this project highlight that a combination of markers instead of a single one should be considered for the further development of control tools of pork quality traits.

 

The meat quality traits exploited in the project were pH, drip loss, colour, intra muscular fat, and sensory traits like tenderness, Juiciness, flavour and taste. Because muscle physiology is regulated by gene and protein expression, the researchers used transcriptomics and proteomics, referred to as 'omics' technologies, where thousand of genes and hundreds of proteins, respectively, can be measured at the same time.

 

For more information please contact Niels Oksbjerg,