OBJECTIVES

: Asian consumers are known to be sensitive to boar taint, an unpleasant odor or flavor often experienced when consuming meat from uncastrated male pigs. Boar taint is mainly attributed to androstenone and skatole, compounds which accumulate in pork fat with sexual maturity of pigs. Although physical castration of male piglets is frequently applied to overcome boar taint, it is associated with pain and suffering and increased piglet mortality, thereby raising animal welfare concerns. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of a commercially available anti-GnRF vaccine (Improvac^®) in avoiding the risk of boar taint by disrupting the cascade leading to production of sexual steroids in pigs.

METHODS

: Meta-analysis was used to investigate the risk of exceeding the thresholds of detection (ToD) for skatole (≥0.2μg/g fat) and androstenone (≥1.0μg/g fat) in physically castrated (PC) and anti-GnRF immunocastrated (IC) pigs by calculating the risk difference (RD). All comparative studies reporting or allowing the calculation of animals exceeding the respective ToDs were included. Additionally, results from sensory evaluation of meat from PC and IC pigs were descriptively analyzed.

RESULTS

: In total 17 (skatole level) and 18 (androstenone level) studies were included in meta-analysis. The risk of exceeding the ToDs was low and not different between IC pigs and PC pigs (exceeding ToD for skatole: RD=0.004, P=0.178; for androstenone: RD=0.000, P=0.805). Accordingly, immunization against GnRF is as effective as physical castration in avoiding boar taint. Results were confirmed by sensory evaluations of meat performed by consumer and expert panels in a total of 28 experiments on 1,299 different pork samples.

CONCLUSIONS

: IC pigs are similarly rated as PC pigs in the consumer sensory results analyzed. From consumers’ perspective, the anti-GnRF vaccination is a better choice compared to physical castration, as it is similarly effective in avoiding boar taint without leading to animal suffering and increased mortality