Higher pH values predict more tender pork

Pork with a higher ultimate pH --> more water during storage --> more juice after preparation of the meat --> give a juicier, more succulent and tender eating experience.

Read more: Pork Quality: pH Decline and Pork Quality

Tenderness of meat: effect of growth rate

Effect of pig growth rate and health status on meat eating quality D Zammerini et al. University of Bristol & university of Leeds, United Kingdom

Factors were 3 growth categories (Fast, Slow and Interrupted).
Growth rate was measured between weaning and slaughter.

• Guidelines for fast growth were >600 g/d to 90kg and >700 g/d to 110kg. 
• Guidelines for slow growth were around 500 g/d to 90kg and 590 g/d to 110kg. 
• Interrupted growth pigs were those that had suffered a period of weight loss presumed to be due to infection.

There was a strong tendency for toughness to be lower in the Fast group but a significant growth category x carcass weight interaction prevented this being a statistically significant effect. Results in Table 2 show that toughness was significantly lower in the Fast groups at both 90 and 110 kg carcass weight. More details

Tenderness of meat: effects of slaughter weight

Tenderness of meat from entire male pigs: effects of breed, slaughter weight and measuring method M. Aluwé et al. Institute for Agricultural and Fisheries Research (ILVO), Animal Sciences, Scheldeweg 68, B-9090 Melle, Belgium.

Average value ± st. dev. of meat Warner-Bratzler shear force (WBSF) measurement for entire males of Piétrain (P), Belgian Landrace Stress Negative (BN) and the Large White (LW) breed slaughtered at 90 and 110 kg. More details