The average hot carcass weight of U.S. pork carcasses has increased from 82 kg to 96 kg since 1995, representing an increase of approximately 17 percent. If this increase remains steady, pork carcasses are projected to weigh on average 105 kg by 2030 and more than 118 kg by 2050. Although this represents an increase in efficiency within the pork industry, there are concerns with future production. If we look at the poultry industry during the same time, we see an increase in live broiler weight from 2.13 kg to 2.86 kg, which represents a 34 percent increase in body weight. This increase in body weight often has been quoted as the source of increased adverse muscle conditions such as woody breast syndrome, muscle striping and pale, soft and exudative (PSE) meat. These conditions have led to poor eating experiences and reduced consumer confidence of poultry. This raises concerns that with the trend of increasing carcass weights within the pork industry, we might run into similar issues with quality and consumer confidence. It is important to note, however, that the weight increase in the poultry industry was twice the magnitude as that seen in the pork industry while the time it took to get to market weight simultaneously decreased.
Increased weight and size of heavy pigs has the potential to create an array of challenges with the rate of temperature decline and pork quality. Heavier carcasses have a smaller surface area to volume ratio, causing them to chill slower than lighter carcasses. Past research has shown that loins and hams from carcasses weighing 105 kg chilled slower than loins and hams from carcasses weighing 85 kg. Furthermore, slower chilled loins were paler in color, had less perceived marbling, but were more tender compared with loins that chilled more rapidly. Therefore, the objective was to characterize pork quality of carcasses ranging from 78 to 145 kg with a mean weight of 119 kg. All subsets of the population utilized the same mean weight of 119 kg.