The effect of age and ultimate pH value on selected quality traits of meat from wild boar.

The meat from hunted wild boar juveniles (N=18) and yearlings (N=17), was analysed to assess the influence of age, and to assess the ultimate pH value on selected quality traits. The analysed meat of 55.56 % of the juveniles and 64.71 % of the yearlings was characterised with normal pH. The pH had been measured 24 h and 48 h post-mortem. More cases of high ultimate pH (pHu>5.8) and high maximal pH (about 6.2) have been noted in the meat of younger animals compared to older ones. We found no effect of pHu on the colour coordinates of analysed wild boar meat. A slight effect of age was observed for the L* coordinate. The post-mortem time was the most important factor influencing meat colour (L*, b* and hue-angle). A high pHu was related to lower drip loss (P=0.001), lower percentage of free water (P=0.036), lower cooking loss (P=0.001), and lower plasticity (P=0.042). The meat from juveniles showed higher plasticity than meat from yearlings. Summing up, both the pHu level and the age of wild boars may affect some qualitative patterns of meat, changing the technological usability of this raw animal product.The accepted manuscript in pdf format is listed with the files at the bottom of this page. The presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the manuscript may differ slightly between what is listed on this page and what is listed in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript; that in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript is what was submitted by the author