[amandac]

looking for opinions and any evidence based research on boar taint. In the past I have reared saddleback cross weaners (boars) and sent them to market at ~9 months and have never had any problem with the meat. I am interested in what age do saddleback boars hit puberty/sexual maturity and do people send their pigs to market at a certain age to prevent boar taint regardless of weight. I am assuming boar taint in outdoor breed & reared pigs of traditional breeds is not common! I stand to be corrected.

[harmony]

Never had boar taint. My friend used to send in 15 pigs a week for butchers and he has never had boar taint. Boars can be sexually mature by six months of age. Boar taint is not a common problem. I know of a mature boar made into bacon that did have boar taint. I know another made into pork that did not.

[Eve]

Not uncommon in outdoor bred pigs. I can smell and taste boar taint whilst my husband can't, which has resulted in him getting all the bacon on occasion as I couldn't eat it.


We always sent our own pigs off at 6months and never had boar taint luckily.

[hughesy]

We take our saddlebacks and saddleback cross pigs to slaughter at anything from 5 months to 8 or 9 months old. Never seen, smelt or experienced boar taint in any way. We slaughter about 100 porkers a year and process and sell all of the meat ourselves.

[harmony]

Not uncommon in outdoor bred pigs. I can smell and taste boar taint whilst my husband can't, which has resulted in him getting all the bacon on occasion as I couldn't eat it.


We always sent our own pigs off at 6months and never had boar taint luckily.

Is it boar taint or is it just outdoor reared pork smells stronger?


I don't believe boar taint is common at all. I also believe that if a boar truly had boar taint the abattoir wouldn't have it in the place as it would taint the other meat. If meat was tainted then both of you would smell and taste it.

[Toots]

Just slaughtered a boar that sired my first two littles of piglets last week. He was 12 months old and clearly sexually mature at 8 months.
No hint of any boar taint, if it exists then it must be a bit of a hit and miss affair, I did read that it may be poor slaughter procedure that could result in overstressed boars producing high levels of adrenaline but there seems to be little scientific evidence out there.

It seems there may be a bit of religiousity about it all,  some are believers and some are not but proof it exists is anecdotal and does not seem to be testable/repeatable.

[oaklandspigs]

This is the section from our book on boar taint - you may freely copy this

Boar Taint
Boar Taint is an unpleasant smell that can be released during cooking pork from adult breeding boars.  Research has shown that 1 in 2 women but only 1 in 7 men can detect this. The occurrence of boar taint is higher in hybrids used commercially than in purebreds, and research shows that housing conditions and diet both affect taint. In commercial herds the rate can be about 1 in 12. 

For those of us breeding the traditional breeds, boar taint is highly unlikely to be a problem - we usually fatten outdoors where pigs get a varied diet from soil and vegetation, they are from non-hybrid pigs, and we take them off before sexual maturity. Therefore the risk of boar taint is extremely low.

However as this subject is regularly raised with us when people are selecting weaners, it is covered here.

Boar Taint is mainly caused by androstenone, a steroid produced by the males that are sexually active, and by skatole, a by-product of bacterial activity in the gut. As male pigs reach sexual maturity the amount of androstenone increases, and sexual steroids produced by the male also inhibit breakdown of Skatole.  Both can then be deposited in the fat of the pig, and it is possible for this to cause boar taint.

The meat of sexually mature boars is more at risk, but as most male pigs are taken off to pork or bacon before the pig reaches full sexual maturity, it is highly unlikely to be a problem.  Fully mature (retired) boars are culled and their meat generally goes abroad to be made into Belgium Pate or Italian Salami, as there is a much higher risk of taint in those types of boar that have been regularly sexually active.

No research on smallholding pigs has been done to our knowledge, but at Oaklands Pigs we generally fatten male pigs (entire boars will grow about 20% faster than gilts) and in many years of selling weaners (400-500 weaners a year) we know of no-one directly who has come across this problem.  Indeed we have on several occasions used 10-12 month old boars to get first time gilts pregnant and then taken the boar off for meat without any issues, as a boar used once or twice is not what we class as sexually active.

[Toots]

[member=3020]oaklandspigs[/member]

Could you provide the source of the research, I would be interested in reading it in full and in context.

Thanks

[SophieYorkshire]

We do a heck of a lot of pigs and have only ever had one that's tasted rather foul - and everyone could taste it, me, OH, MiL and family. He was a 5-6 month old Berkshire and the most aggressive b*stard of a pig we've ever owned (largely why he ended up at the abattoir!). He'd never been near the ladies.

I wonder if levels of aggression can affect the meat?

Breeding males wee does smell more, I wonder if this is an indicator.

[oaklandspigs]

[member=3020]oaklandspigs[/member]

Could you provide the source of the research, I would be interested in reading it in full and in context.

Thanks

loads and loads on the internet, just google it - lots of scientific papers.

One of the better ones (ie it is quite readable!) is

https://www.aasv.org/shap/issues/v5n4/v5n4p151.pdf

[DavidandCollette]

I heard a fascinating programme on Radio 4 recently that was talking about human genetics. One fact was that it depends on where your ancestors originated as to whether you could taste boar taint or not. 

[oaklandspigs]

yes, there's lots on nature vs. nurture - some is supposed to be heritable and some if you are brought up in an environment where it is present you become accustomed so don't detect.

Also age is apparently a factor - as you get older you can become more sensitive.

And research numbers on who can detect are always interesting.  Some use taste panels (people who have been trained to detect) so obviously their results will be higher. And if your research is paid for by a company who are say keen to sell a vaccine for boar taint (yes that exists), then you may well quote stats at higher concentrations, and then you might get 90% of women and 50% of men.  Of course as soon as you say to someone 'what can you smell' then you put them on heightened awareness - bit like asking someone if they spotted the person in the beige coat in a crowd.  If you only ask afterwards, you'll get a different result than if you show people before what you consider to be beige.  !

And there is also said to be  'stress taint' - another one that has strong advocates and some who say that while stress may cause PSE (Pale Soft and Exudative meat) or DFD (Dark, Firm, Dry pork) it does not cause taint.

And female pigs can also suffer from taint, although this is much rarer.

There is no doubt that taint exists, and that people can detect it. 

However our experience is that it is very rare for smallholder pigs taken to slaughter to suffer from it.

[waterbuffalofarmer]

 Interesting what you say about female pigs [member=3020]oaklandspigs[/member] We had a pig slaughtered and the meat cured, a female it was. She was incredibly salty the guy said she may have been cycling is this true?

[oaklandspigs]

Interesting what you say about female pigs [member=3020]oaklandspigs[/member] We had a pig slaughtered and the meat cured, a female it was. She was incredibly salty the guy said she may have been cycling is this true?

Not one I have heard of.

[Toots]

[member=3020]oaklandspigs[/member], thanks for the link. Much appreciated and an interesting read.