Metabolic Factors Influencing Ultimate pH

Ultimate pH (pHu) of pork is a major quality determinant. Higher pHu is associated with darker color (Kauffman et al., 1993). A lower pHu is associated with higher drip loss (Kauffman et al., 1993). Pale, soft, exudative (PSE) and red, soft, exudative (RSE) pork is undesirable because it has a low water-holding capacity. At pHu above 5.7, PSE and RSE pork quality problems do not occur (Fernandez et al., 1994). Production of pork with pHu above 5.7 would result in constantquality meat with high water-holding capacity and reddishpink color. The National Pork Producers Council recommends a pH above 5.7 for the production of “good” quality pork (NPPC, 1998). How can we produce meat with a specific pHu? Only when we know what factors determine pHu. In the following, I briefly review factors that may influence pHu of pork.