Gender and diet influences on pork palatability and consumer acceptance. II. Sex taint compounds and their relationship to sensory properties

Abstract

Ninety intact male, 89 castrated male, and 60 female pigs were slaughtered at a mean market weight of 95.7 kg and a mean age of 151.5 days. Skatole and steroid levels in 20 and 24% of the intact males respectively, exceeded acceptable levels, (i.e. 0.25 μg/g and 50 μg/g, respectively). In contrast 2.5 and 3.4% of the castrated male and 1.8 and 0.0% of the female pigs exceeded these skatole and steroid levels, respectively. To successfully predict the potential presence of sex taint, both 16-androstnone steroid and skatole levels must be known. However, factors other than skatole and 16-androstene steroid levels appear to be involved in sex taint development.