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Enzymatic degradation of boar taint substances during the production of meat products (BoTaRem)
Project
Project code: MRI-FL-08-322-1070 BoTaRem
Contract period: 01.08.2019
- 31.01.2022
Purpose of research: Applied research
The project aims to convert boar tainted pork into consumable meat products during production by the use of enzymes or enzyme mixtures. For this purpose, edible mushrooms (Basidiomycetes) will be screened for suitable enzymes, which can modify the responsible steroid compounds as well as skatole in the meat in a way that the smell diminishes. The enzymes will consequently be isolated and applied in scalded sausages as a model system. The meat of entire male pigs can be tainted by a very unpleasant smell, called boar taint. Therefore, young piglets for meat production have been castrated in Germany without anaesthesia for many years. However, in the light of an increasing consumer awareness and discussion about animal welfare issues, such practices have become unacceptable and a new legislation has been put into place, in which the castration without anaesthesia will be prohibited. Although the problem has been known for a long time, no good practical solution exists at this point. Currently, three alternatives are accepted: The (young) boar fattening, immunocastration and castration with pain elimination under anaesthesia. The first two alternatives will result in a significantly higher proportion of pigs with boar taint (boars, vaccination deniers). The project is a collaborative project between three academic institutions: The Institute for Safety and Quality of Meat (Max Rubner-Institute (MRI-FL), Kulmbach) will produce all meat products. This includes the optimization of the recipe and manufacturing conditions that could be required through the use of enzymes. Furthermore the chemical analyses of the boar taint substances will be done by high performance liquid chromatography. Also non directed analyses (metabolomics) will be performed in order to realise changes of the profile of small molecules. At the Institute of Food Chemistry and Food Biotechnology (Justus-Liebig-University (LCB), Gießen) combined gas chromatography with coupled mass spectrometry and olfactometry will be used to quantify the odour-active substances. Fast protein liquid chromatography and various electrophoretic systems are used for protein purification, identification and characterization. The cloning of the cDNAs coding for the corresponding enzymes is carried out by means of polymerase chain reaction. For the production of sufficient quantities of enzymes, a pilot plant fermenter will be used. In the department of Product Quality of Animal Products (Georg-August-University (QTE), Göttingen) a panel of examiners for the objective sensory analysis of boar taint is set up under respect of the specific anomsmia for androstenone and trained. With these test persons, the interaction of the odorants in model systems is examined and the proof of effectiveness of the enzymatic reduction of the boar taint substances is provided. Furthermore, the sensory consumer acceptance of the products manufactured by enzymeuse as well as of the production technology will be examined
Section overview
Subjects
- Animal Husbandry
- Animal nutrition
- Food microbiology
