Firmness of the Individual Subcutaneous Adipose Tissue Layers of Pig Carcasses and its Relationship with other Fat, Carcass and Meat Quality Criteria

The present study analyses the differences in the firmness of fat layers of subcutaneous adipose tissue of commercial pigs presently produced and its relationship with other measures of fat, meat and carcass quality. Difference of firmness between backfat layers was highly significant (P < 0.001) being outer layer much firmer than middle layer. Firmness of fat was not correlated with colour and only weakly correlated with melting point in middle layer (P < 0.01). It was nor correlated with meat quality traits and showed only significant correlation with carcass weight and backfat thickness (P < 0.05) for carcass traits. Middle layer was significantly more saturated (P < 0.001) than outer layer with a greater proportion of palmitic and stearic acids, being the higher unsaturation of outer layer basically related with polyunsaturated fatty acids, mainly linoleic acid. From a practical point of view, the quality of fat from outer layer can be more appropriate for final products using comminuted fat as dry sausages.