Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Food Science, P.O. Box 7051, S-750 07, Uppsala, Sweden.
Meat Sci. 1996;43S1:257-64.
The centralization of the slaughter industry has created one of the biggest problems for beef quality, namely dark-cutting or DFD. After studying the various handling routines and their effects on meat quality, it was found possible, by applying simple and clearcut rules, to minimize the DFD frequency in beef. We then started to scrutinize the slaughter procedure for reindeer, as we realized that new directives in Sweden would lead to centralization of the slaughter industry. Before the new directives were introduced we obtained sufficient funding to set up a four-year research project dealing with old and new slaughter handling procedures for reindeer and their effects on meat quality. The overall objective was to devise simple and effective rules for the handling of slaughter reindeer in order to avoid meat quality deterioration. Various preslaughter handling routines for reindeer, such as gathering and herding, selection, feeding, road transport and lairage, imply stressful events which can affect glycogen stores in muscle and hence meat quality. During a 3 day helicopter drive (20 km/day), we found no negative effects on glycogen stores or ultimate pH values. Lorry transport of reindeer over various distances (0 up to 1000 km) did not cause any increase in ultimate pH values in bulls and calves, though cows did show a slight increase in pH. A 2-day pre-slaughter waiting period at a slaughterhouse, where the reindeer were fed hay and water, caused no deleterious effects on muscle glycogen content or pH. Sorting out reindeer by use of the traditional lasso technique, however, seems to be the only handling procedure so far studied causing considerable physical and mental stress leading to muscle glycogen depletion and dark-cutting. The effects of various handling procedures are very much dependent on the physical condition of the animals. From our studies we can conclude that feeding has a major influence on physical condition, muscle glycogen content and hence meat quality.
屠宰行业的集中化导致了牛肉质量的最大问题之一，即暗切割或 DFD。在研究了各种处理程序及其对肉质的影响后，我们发现通过应用简单明了的规则，有可能将牛肉中的 DFD 频率降至最低。然后，我们开始仔细研究驯鹿的屠宰程序，因为我们意识到瑞典的新指令将导致屠宰行业的集中化。在新指令出台之前，我们获得了足够的资金来设立一个为期四年的研究项目，研究驯鹿的新旧屠宰处理程序及其对肉质的影响。总体目标是制定简单有效的驯鹿屠宰处理规则，以避免肉质恶化。驯鹿的各种宰前处理程序，如聚集和放牧、选择、喂养、道路运输和圈养，都涉及到可能影响肌肉中糖原储存的应激事件，从而影响肉质。在为期 3 天的直升机驱赶（每天 20 公里）过程中，我们发现没有对糖原储存或最终 pH 值产生负面影响。驯鹿的卡车运输在不同的距离（0 到 1000 公里）上进行，不会导致公牛和小牛的最终 pH 值增加，尽管母牛的 pH 值略有上升。在屠宰场等待 2 天进行宰前等待，期间给驯鹿喂食干草和水，不会对肌肉糖原含量或 pH 值产生任何不良影响。然而，使用传统套索技术对驯鹿进行分类，似乎是迄今为止唯一研究过的处理程序，它会导致相当大的身体和精神压力，导致肌肉糖原消耗和暗切割。各种处理程序的影响在很大程度上取决于动物的身体状况。从我们的研究中，我们可以得出结论，喂养对身体状况、肌肉糖原含量和肉质有重大影响。
