It h
as been suggested th
at sk
atole, one o
f the
main co
mpounds responsible
for bo
ar t
aint, c
an be lowered by keeping pigs cle
an,
as sk
atole c
an be
absorbed through skin
and/or lungs (H
ansen, L
arsen, Jensen, H
ansenMoller & B
artong
ade, 1994). With this experi
ment, we
further investig
ated this hypothesis by co
mp
aring extre
mely cle
an with extre
mely dirty
ani
mals with reg
ard to the occurrence o
f bo
ar t
aint. One group o
f bo
ars w
as w
ashed d
aily
and pens were
mucked on
and littered down d
aily (CLEAN),
a second group o
f bo
ars w
as rubbed with
faeces d
aily (DIRTY)
and
a third group o
f bo
ars w
as kept in control conditions (CONTROL). The tre
at
ment w
as per
for
med during the l
ast
four weeks be
fore sl
aughter.
According to the standardised consumer panel evaluations, boars subjected to extra soiling had a higher concentration of boar taint than boars that were kept extra clean. In contrast, expert panels judged general meat flavour to be inferior in CLEAN than CONTROL pigs. The home consumer panel, the hot iron method, and laboratory analyses, i.e., the presence of indole, skatole and androstenone in fat and serum, all showed no significant differences. So no clear indications towards skatole reduction by improving cleanliness of pigs were found.