Association between animal, transportation, slaughterhouse practices, and meat pH in beef

The objective of this study was to evaluate the influence of factors related to animal, farm, transportation, and animal handling at the slaughterhouse, as well as their interactions, on pH of beef meat. A total of 5494 cattle (343 ± 45 d of age) from 181 different Spanish farms were surveyed during three seasons (spring, summer, and winter) and a total of 25 pre-slaughter variables were recorded. Meat pH was measured at the Longissimus dorsi 24 h post-mortem (pH24). After a variable selection procedure, a mixed-effects logistic regression model was conducted with 5 variables (1 random and 4 fixed) to identify the main factors, and their interactions, affecting meat pH24. Average incidences of meat pH24 greater than 5.8 and 6.0 were 13.89% and 4.02%, respectively. The variability of meat pH24 explained with studied factors and their interactions was only 4.9%, a value too low to allow making technical decisions to improve meat pH24 in the Spanish market considering the variables studied.