Suisag

Body Composition

Carcass & Meat Quality

Field Experiments

The animals reared in our testing station are brought to the slaughterhouse close to our location. This offers the possibility to be at the slaughterhouse during slaughter and 24h post mortem. Samples from each carcass are taken back to our meat lab, where they are analysed for various quality traits. The routine measurements include: - pH measurement at 90 min p.m. and 24 h p.m. (pH-Star, Matthäus GmbH & Co.) in m. long. dorsi (LD) and m. semimembranosus. - colour measurement (Minolta Chromameter CM2500d) in LD - intramuscular fat content (NIRS, calibrated with Soxtec petroleum extraction) - drip loss (Bag method, 48h) - cooking loss (e.g., sous-vide water bath 72°C) - Warner-Bratzler shear force measurement - Fatty acid type composition in pork back fat (NIRS: SFA, MUFA, PUFA, iodine value) Additional measurements that can be conducted: - crude protein (Dumas method) - intramuscular fat content (crude fat, Soxtec petroleum extraction) - fat quality, scratch samples (NIRS: PUFA, iodine value analogous to the determination of fat quality in pigs commonly used in Switzerland) - Fatty acid profile in adipose tissue (GC-FID; proportion of individual fatty acid incl. omega-6 and omega-3) - oxidation stability (induction time, rancimat) We have an enthusiastic R&D group that is always excited to take up novel challenges and learn about new methods and applications. They will be happy also to assist in setting up a statistically sound trial.