Use of entire males for pig meat in the European Union.

The aim of the present paper is to review the present knowledge concerning the possible use of entire male pigs for meat production, with particular emphasis on the current situation in EU countries. Raising entire male pigs has a number of advantages including lower production costs, leaner carcass, reduction of the output of pollutants in the manure and improved welfare of the animals. However, it has also a number of drawbacks, most of them concerning meat quality, with boar taint being the most serious problem. A recent international study involving 7 EU countries has shown that a higher proportion of consumers is dissatisfied with entire male than with gilt pork (31.9 vs 26.0% for odour; 21.5 vs 18.5% for flavour). However, the perception of boar taint differs widely between countries. Skatole, a compound with intense faecal odour, and androstenone, a steroid with intense urinary odour, are held as responsible for boar taint. The above-mentioned international study demonstrated that skatole has a higher contribution than androstenone for consumer perception of unpleasant odours, while both compounds have similar contributions to unpleasant flavours. In the current situation, a high proportion of the entire male pigs reared in EU countries exhibit skatole/androstenone levels that result in a significant increase in consumer dissatisfaction, comparatively to gilt pork. Fat skatole levels are mostly dependent on feeding and rearing factors, while fat androstenone content is mostly determined by genetic factors. Besides the economic advantages associated with the production of entire males, the animal welfare issue may result some day in EU regulations prohibiting the castration of male piglets as it is currently performed. This would lead to a degradation of meat quality unless something is done to control the boar taint problem. An integrated approach should be considered with actions taken at the three levels of animal production, slaughter and processing. On the short range, immunocastration may offer a viable way for a drastic reduction of the incidence of boar taint in entire male pig populations. On the long range, selection against skatole/androstenone may be cheaper and more readily acceptable. Artificial noses and related techniques offer interesting possibilities for the assessment of boar taint on the slaughter line, however, further developments are needed in order to determine whether they can be used in industrial conditions. Tainted meat can be used through processing, however specific studies have to be conducted for each of the many products that can be processed from pig meat.