COMMERCIAL ACCELERATED PORK PROCESSING: YIELDS OF FRESH CARCASS CUTS

ABSTRACT Accelerated pork processing, the processing of the pork carcass immediately following slaughter into primal and processed cuts, was studied under commercial packinghouse conditions using 225 market hog carcasses. The carcasses were selected at random from the slaughter operation and one side assigned to accelerated and the other side to conventional processing. Conventional sides were chilled and processed 24 hr after slaughter while accelerated sides were processed within 1 hr of slaughter. Weights were obtained on all primal cuts and trimmings removed from the carcass during fabrication. Accelerated cuts were chilled in an experimental chill chamber until mass average temperature reached 4.4°C. Following chilling, all cuts were reweighed and retained in a holding cooler (1.7°C). After chilling and tempering, no differences were found in cut yields between the two processing methods. Minor variation in cutting techniques was observed between the accelerated and conventional processing methods; experience and redirected quality control standards could reduce this variation. There were no differences after chilling and tempering.