Significance of Porcine Fat Quality in Meat Technology: A Review

Pork is the most important meat product globally. The aim of this review was to assess whether fat quality of pork is important in meat processing. Good quality backfat can be defined as firm and white. Problems associated with the use of poor fat quality (soft fat) in meat products were found to be insufficient drying, oily appearance, rancidity development, seperation between muscle, and adipose tissue on cutting. Criteria were set for good quality fat, in terms of physical properties and fatty acid composition. It was proposed that measurement of physical and chemical fat quality properties could serve as a guideline to assess good quality fat. Factors responsible for influencing fat quality were identified as backfat thickness, breed or race, age, slaughter weight, gender, growth promotors, diet, rearing conditions, and environmental temperature. We considered the influence of fat quality on the technological properties of fresh meat, raw fermented and cured sausages, cooked and uncooked cured, whole muscle meat products, and cooked and emulsion-type sausages. We concluded that saturated fats are needed to manufacture good quality products and that better technological properties of fat are thus associated with poorer health properties.