Welcome to the unit of meat & fish quality
At meat and fish quality we perform research, education and information concerning factors influencing the composition and quality of meat and fish. We are around 15 people at the division and head is Kerstin Lundström.
The research at the research group of Meat Science is concentrated on traits like composition and quality of meat from cattle, pigs, lambs, reindeer, poultry and fish and factors that influence these traits. The research is performed within the research programs listed below. Most of the projects are run in close co-operation with other departments within SLU or with external departments. Pigs and cattle are reared at the experimental farms belonging to SLU, Skara or Lövsta, or selected from private farmers. Projects within the fish sector are run in co-operation with the fish industry.
Fat quality
Fish quality
Farming of salmonids is at present a small but successful business in Sweden and is expected to increase considerably within the next years by export of both fingerlings, fertilised eggs and charr as food product. The fish, being an extreme cold water species, are mainly farmed in netpens located in the extremely nutrient poor waters in Northern and central Sweden. The research aims are: Aquaculture related research such as developing and testing new and sustainable ingredients in feed for farmed fish and to investigate the eating quality of the produced farmed fish.
Meat quality of beef and pork
Of special interest for the meat quality are factors influencing the muscle’s biochemical conversion to meat during the post-mortal phase with emphasis on factors determining tenderness.
Toward the elimination of boar taint
The sensory quality of pork produced from some entire male pigs may be negatively affected by the presence of skatole and/or androstenone, so called boar taint. The major factor determining the level of boar taint in pork is the balance between biosynthesis and catabolism of androstenone and skatole. Reduced production or enhanced clearance of boar taint compounds are the basic approaches to prevent boar taint.
Guests:
At present, we have guest scientists Chunbao and Jing Li from Nanjing in China and Vladimir Zlabek from the Czech Republic staying during 2010 or longer.