Current trends of Chinese herbal medicines on meat quality of pigs. A review

Abstract

Chinese herbal medicines (CHMs) contain multiple active ingredients, such as polyphenols, flavonoids, polysaccharides, due to which CHMs have many biological properties for example antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-lipase. CHMs can promote intramuscular fat deposition, increase the content of fatty acids and free amino acids in pork, which increases the nutritional value and health-promoting properties of meat. However, there are still some problems with the application of CHMs in pig production to improve meat quality. Firstly, there are many active ingredients, and their identification and study on their interactions are necessary. Secondly, the presence of harmful ingredients limits CHMs popularization and application. This review summarizes the current applications of CHMs in pig production in order to increase meat quality, and compares their effects on meat quality, which provides a theoretical screen for effective CHMs and their combinations. In brief, it is necessary to distinguish and find CHMs that have positive effects on meat quality and growth performance.