Boar meat is pork from uncastrated male pigs. Male piglets are routinely castrated, aiming to prevent an abnormal smell of the meat (boar taint). The resistance to castrate male piglets is increasing. A large number of European consumers attach great and increasing importance to animal welfare. European consumers consider it important that farm animals get as little as possible interventions throughout their lives. Castration of male pigs is one of these interventions. When European consumers are asked to choose three main motives for buying and eating meat from a set of eleven motives; quality, price and taste are on average most often selected and no artificial ingredients, convenience and animal welfare are least often selected, with animal welfare on average over all 14 countries chosen in the top 3 by 15.0% of consumers, ranging from 28.2% of German consumers to 2.1% of Latvian consumers (Source CAMPIG, 2013).
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However, not everyone is convinced of the need to end the castration of male piglets. European and international markets have different opinions about the castration of pigs. International trade, supermarkets and butchers sometimes are reluctant because they fear the possibility of pork with boar taint.
Quality assurance and quality improvement are important to maintain market share or achieve higher prices. It is expected that the relative importance of quality will only continue to increase in the future. Pork quality may refer to slaughter quality, quality of meat and on hygienic quality. Slaughter quality is about meat percentage, carcass type and ratio of meat/fat and meat/bone. Meat quality is about sensory quality (color, water binding capacity) and eating quality (tenderness, juiciness, taste and smell).
The opinion of consumers about the quality of meat always comes first. For the pork meat sector the consumer is the gold standard according to which everything is tuned. Optimizing animal welfare is important for European consumers and therefore for the pork producers. Quality is largely determined by taste and smell. It is why in Europe a lot of time and money has been spent to unravel the complex issue of boar taint and to develop solutions.
Gé Backus presented an overview of the work of the international voluntary subgroup on ending piglet castration on the June 16th meeting of the European Animal Welfare Platform. He concluded …
Boars on the Way in cooperation with Pig Progress hosted a webinar on the environmental impact of keeping entire boars. The webinar was broadcast on Thursday, February 23, and can …
The impact of ending castration of entire male pigs in Europe is explained in a two minutes YouTube animation. Ending piglet castration is better for the animal, saves money for …
The five-year Dutch research program ‘stopping the castration of piglets’ was started in 2009. The research results have provided important directions for solutions. The scientists involved have gradually unravelled the …
Date: 14-12-2013
The ending of the castration of male pigs in the Netherlands does not seem to influence the consumption of pork. ” The consumption has continued to follow European trends, even …
Date: 19-02-2013
EuroChoices Volume 11, Issue 3, pages 36a-43, December 2012, New EU Policies Towards Animal Welfare: The Relative Importance of Pig Castration. Zein Kallas, José Maria Gil, Nuria Panella-Riera, Marta Blanch, Gemma Tacken, …
Date: 14-01-2013
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Boars on the way is a collaboration of stakeholders from the Dutch pig sector, aiming to end castration of male pigs within the European Union. Members of the steering committee include the Dutch Pig Farmers Organisation (POV), Vion, Topigs Norsvin, the Ministry of Agriculture, and the Dutch Organisation for the Protection of Animals.
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