Boar taint compound levels in back fat versus meat products: Do they correlate?

• Persistence of boar taint in processed meat products.
• UHPLC-HR-Orbitrap-MS for combined analysis in fat and meat.
• Novel insights on influencing boar taint levels by meat processing.
• New approach to estimate consumer acceptance of end products.
• Tool for the selection of promising meat products with valorisation potential.

Surgical castration of male pigs will soon be abandoned, turning a major advantage of this practice, the elimination of boar taint, into the biggest challenge for pig industry when raising intact male pigs becomes common practice. To map the (economical) consequences in relation to boar-taint consumer acceptance, as well as offer a processing strategy for tainted carcasses to stockholders, the current study investigated not only back fat boar taint levels, but additionally generated information on the levels of boar taint compounds recovered after the production of commercially relevant meat products using UHPLC-HRMS laboratory analysis. Our results demonstrate that levels of androstenone, skatole and indole in back fat and meat products tend to correlate strongly, particularly in fatty meat products (generally r > 0.80). Concentration values in the edible (lean) meat fraction were significantly lower compared to back fat and fat sampled from fresh or processed meat (p < 0.05).