Effect of the slaughterhouse on the incidence of defects in raw pig ham destined to the dry-curing process

The score and the incidence of the veining and “red skin” defects wereevaluated on 120 left raw hams supplied by pigs reared in one farm and delivered in groups of40 subjects to three slaughterhouses. The presence and the seriousness of the veining defect wassignificatively affected by the slaughter plant (P<0.01) but not by the sex. In one of the threeconsidered abattoir, the veining defect, even if with different degree of gravity, was observed onthe 100 % of the hams. The “red skin” defect did not varied accordingly to the plant nor withthe sex and his incidence was not imputable to the slaughter condition.