Potential sensitivity of pork production situations aiming at high-quality products to the use of entire male pigs as an alternative to surgical castrates
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Author
Bonneau, M.
Candek-Potokar, M.
Skrlep, M.
Font-i-Furnols, M.
Aluwé, M.
Fontanesi, L.
Publication date
2017-11-16ISSN
1751-7311
Abstract
The perspective of a possible ban on surgical castration of male pigs in the EU is a real challenge for pork production systems
aiming at (very) high-quality products. Information was collected from a total of 272 situations in 16 European countries, including
170 situations related to EU protected designations (Database of Origin & Registration (DOOR) database) and 102 other situations
related to high-quality products or differentiated production systems, in order to evaluate their potential sensitivity to the use of
entire male pigs along four dimensions: BT_Inc, likelihood of increased levels of boar taint compounds compared with conventional
production of entire males; BT_Per, extent to which (some of) the associated pork product(s) are susceptible to perception of boar
taint by consumers; FatQQ, likelihood that the quality of (some of) the related products is decreased due to the lower fat quantity
and quality in entire males; Manag, increased likelihood of animal management and welfare problems compared with conventional
production of entire males. Situations corresponding to EU protected designations (DOOR situations) were on average more
sensitive to entire male production but 11% of the non-DOOR situations were highly potentially sensitive, whereas one-third of the
DOOR situations had low potential sensitivity. In total, 37% of the situations where castration is not formally specified as
mandatory exhibited high potential sensitivity to entire male production. Three main patterns of situations were identified
via ascending hierarchical clustering. A first pattern including 31% of the DOOR situations and 74% of the other ones, had
potentially no increased risk compared with conventional production of entire males. A second pattern including 28% of the DOOR
situations and 16% of the other ones had a high, moderate and low potential sensitivity for FatQQ, BT_Inc and Manag,
respectively. The third pattern including 41% of the DOOR situations and 11% of the other situations had high potential sensitivity
for BT_Inc and FatQQ, associated with moderate to high sensitivity for Manag. The approach used to evaluate the sensitivity to
entire male pig production from the limited information collected for this study has many limitations. More precise approaches
using more specific information are needed to evaluate the actual sensitivity of individual situations to the use of entire male pigs.
Still, the present study provides a first global insight on the capacity of European production systems aiming at high-quality
products to use entire male pigs as an alternative to surgical castration.
Document Type
Article
Document version
Published version
Language
English
Subject (CDU)
663/664 - Food and nutrition. Enology. Oils. Fat
Pages
9
Publisher
Cambridge University Press
Is part of
Animal
Citation
Bonneau, M., Čandek-Potokar, M., Škrlep, M., Font-i-Furnols, M., Aluwé, M. and Fontanesi, L. Bonneau, M., M. Čandek-Potokar, M. Škrlep, M. Font-i-Furnols, M. Aluwé, and L. Fontanesi. 2017. "Potential Sensitivity Of Pork Production Situations Aiming At High-Quality Products To The Use Of Entire Male Pigs As An Alternative To Surgical Castrates". Animal 12 (6): 1287-1295. Cambridge University Press (CUP). doi:10.1017/s1751731117003044.
Grant agreement number
EC/ /SANCO-2014-G3-026/EU/Pig castration: methods of anaesthesia and analgesia for all pigs and other alternatives for pigs used in traditional products/CASTRUM
EC/COST/CA15215/EU/Innovative approaches in pork production with entire males/
Program
Qualitat i Tecnologia Alimentària
This item appears in the following Collection(s)
- ARTICLES CIENTÍFICS [2850]
Except where otherwise noted, this item's license is described as http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/