CONSUMER & MARKET

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).

Quality control and the Gold standard

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.

Making rejected carcasses suitable for consumption

In the production of male pigs without castration, some of the carcasses will be rejected due to their high levels of skatole and androstenone. To ensure optimum financial efficiency, it …

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Modification payment Tönnies uncastrated fattening of pigs into effect

“From 1-1-2019 it is forbidden in Germany to castrate piglets without pain control. Based on controversial discussion about the right way to do so, there is much uncertainty in the …

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Belgian supermarket chain Delhaize to switch entirely to boar meat

To this end, the chain will cooperate with a network of over 200 pig farmers in Belgium. So writes Vilt [Belgian agriculture and horticulture info centre]. The idea is for …

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Boars on the way

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 …

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Date: 14-12-2013

Boar meat does not influence consumption.

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 …

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Date: 19-02-2013

EuroChoices Volume 11, Issue 3 – New EU Policies Towards Animal

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, …

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Date: 14-01-2013

Boars information ready for use

Gé Backus From January 1, 2019 pigs in Germany may no longer be castrated without anesthesia. This is enshrined in German law. Major retailers such as Rewe, Edeka west, Aldi …

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Beliefs or evidence?

Gé Backus Talking about farming and marketing entire male pigs often ends up in talking about the risk of boar taint. Piglet castration is a clear illustration how much time …

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Waited too long

Gé Backus On 25 June 2013, 200 Germans and 1 Dutchman met in the Jerusalemkirche in Berlin to discuss the theme of ‘Verzicht auf betubungslose Ferkelkastration’ (stopping the unanaesthetised castration …

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CONSUMER & MARKET

Quality control and the Gold standard

NEWS CONSUMER & MARKET

Making rejected carcasses suitable for consumption

Modification payment Tönnies uncastrated fattening of pigs into effect

Belgian supermarket chain Delhaize to switch entirely to boar meat

RESEARCH CONSUMER & MARKET

Boars on the way

Boar meat does not influence consumption.

EuroChoices Volume 11, Issue 3 – New EU Policies Towards Animal

BLOG CONSUMER & MARKET

Boars information ready for use

Beliefs or evidence?

Waited too long

Boars on the way

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