Production and consumption of pork meat with different levels of boar taint

Boar taint or sexual odor is a sensorial defect (a disagreeable smell) that occurs in some meat from entire male pigs. The main compounds responsible are androstenone and skatole stored in the fat of the animal. The main tech nique for reducing the androstenone level in the meat is by castration, eit her surgically or by immunocastration. Recent studies in the field of immun ocastration appear to provide a solution to the androstenone problem by red ucing the levels of this substance while taking advantage of the yield and carcass quality of entire male pigs. The quantity of skatole is mainly affe cted by the diet and handling of the pigs. The consumer decides whether to accept or reject the meat from male pigs according to the presence or absen ce of boar taint. However, variations in the consumer response depending on country, preparation and type of product consumed, as well as the individu al's sensitivity to sexual odor, can be observed by looking at different wo rks. According to some of these studies, UK, Irish, Canadian and US consume rs will more readily accept meat from entire male pigs than consumers from France, Sweden, the Netherlands and Spain.