How to make good pigs produce good meat-nutritional factors affecting the color of pork.

Pork has always played an important role in the meat industry. With the development of economy and the exposure of food safety problems, people's requirements for food are getting higher and higher, and the quality of pork is also concerned. Pork color is an intuitive impression index, which is affected by many factors, such as pig breed, sex, age, slaughter method, anatomical location and so on, but mainly depends on the content of oxymyoglobin. As the most intuitive standard for evaluating pork quality, the impact of pork color on sales is becoming more and more important. In addition to some of the above factors, pork color is also affected by some feed additives.

Effect of Vitamins on Meat Color of Pork

Effect of 1.1 Vitamin E on Meat Color of Pork

Vitamin E is a fat-soluble vitamin and one of the most important antioxidants. It can slow down the oxidation of lipids and maintain the integrity of cell membranes, thereby improving meat quality. Related studies have shown that adding a certain amount of vitamin E to pig diets can effectively protect the color of meat and improve the color of pork, so that the value of meat color is close to the ideal 3-point value. In addition, there was an interaction effect between carnosine and vitamin E in improving pork color, and the combination of the two had a better effect.

Effect of 1.2 Vitamin C on Meat Color of Pork

Vitamin C(VC), also known as ascorbic acid, is a water-soluble vitamin with strong antioxidant properties and anti-stress effects. Injecting or adding VC to the diet before slaughter can inhibit the growth of microorganisms and prolong the shelf life. The short-term addition of 500 mg/L to pre-slaughter drinking water significantly increased the plasma VC content; it made the meat 24 h post-slaughter VC more bright red and significantly improved the color of the meat.

Effects of trace elements on meat color of pork

Effect of 2.1 Magnesium on Meat Color of Pork

Magnesium is a cofactor of many metabolism and enzymes in the body. It plays an important role in improving blood circulation, maintaining bone structure, protein and fat metabolism, and can regulate meat quality through the action of nerves and hormones. Studies have shown that magnesium can effectively improve the meat color of pork, and the effect is improved with the increase of magnesium addition.

Effect of 2.2 Chromium on Meat Color of Pork

Chromium is one of the essential trace elements for humans and animals, and chromium is also necessary for insulin to promote fat synthesis. Relevant studies have shown that the addition of organic chromium in the basic diet of pigs can improve the meat color score, such as yeast chromium, but some other organic chromium such as chromium picolinate and chromium propionate have no significant effect on the meat color of pork.

Effect of 2.3 Selenium on Meat Color of Pork

Selenium is one of the indispensable essential trace elements in pigs, and is an essential component for the synthesis of glutathione peroxidase, which has antioxidant effect and protective effect on heavy metal poisoning. Selenium can effectively prevent the oxidation of myoglobin or oxygenated myoglobin to high-iron myoglobin, deepen muscle redness and improve flesh color score. Studies have shown that organic selenium is stronger than inorganic selenium in maintaining the color of pork, and adding a certain amount of yeast selenium or sodium selenite to the pig diet can improve the color of pork.

Effect of 2.4 Iron on Meat Color of Pork

Iron is a component of hemoglobin, which plays a decisive role in the formation of pork color. Adding an appropriate amount of iron to the basic diet of pigs can significantly improve the color of pork. However, adding high dose of iron in late fattening diets will accelerate the rancidity of meat and adversely affect the quality of pork. Therefore, it should be careful to add iron content in late fattening diets.

Effect of Manganese 2.5 on Meat Color of Pork

Manganese is one of the essential trace elements in normal body. It constitutes several enzymes with important physiological functions in the body and participates in the antioxidant effect in the body. Manganese mainly affects the color and antioxidant properties of pork. It was found that supplementation of 320-350 mg/kg Mn in the basal diet of growing-finishing pigs improved pork color and had no adverse effect on growth performance and carcass quality. Moreover, the addition of 350 mg/kg manganese sulfate to the basal diet of growing pigs improved the color of pork and delayed the discoloration of pork during retail sales.

3 Effects of additives on meat color of pork

Effect of 3.1 Betaine on Meat Color of Pork

Betaine is a natural compound, belonging to quaternary ammonium alkaloid, which plays an important role in animal protein and fat metabolism. Studies have shown that the addition of different levels of betaine to the diet of fattening pigs has a significant effect on the flesh color score, which increases with the increase of the addition amount, and some studies have shown that the addition of 1 4o 500 mg/kg and 2 000 mg/kg betaine to the feed of fattening pigs is more ideal.

Effect of 3.2 Tea Polyphenols on Meat Color of Pork

Tea polyphenols are the general name of polyphenols in tea, including flavanols, anthocyanins, flavonoids, flavonols and phenolic acids. Mainly flavanols (catechins). Tea polyphenols have a strong antioxidant effect, especially the ester-type catechin EGCG, whose reducibility can even reach 100 times that of L-isoascorbic acid. Studies have shown that the addition of a certain amount of tea polyphenols in the diet of pigs can stabilize the color of pork.

Effect of 3.3 Carnosine on Meat Color of Pork

Carnosine is a dipeptide consisting of two amino acids, beta-alanine and L-histidine, which is a crystalline solid. It can remove reactive oxygen species (ROS) and alpha-beta unsaturated aldehydes formed by excessive oxidation of fatty acids in cell membranes during oxidative stress. Studies have shown that carnosine can not only improve the oxidative stability of skeletal muscle, maintain the content and quality of intramuscular fat, but also improve the color of pork.

4 Conclusions

With the increase of various livestock and poultry meat products in the market and the inflow of imported pork, the pork market is constantly affected by various shocks, and consumers have higher and higher requirements for the quality of pork. The meat color, which has always been the meat quality evaluation standard, will play a vital role in the future consumer market. The influence of factors before and after slaughter on the meat color of pork is too strong, so we should gradually shift the target to the dietary additives of pigs. This paper has made a summary of the nutritional factors that affect the color of pork, hoping to improve the color of pork and improve the sales of pork.