Dennis Buege University of Wisconsin

Publish Date: June 3, 2006

The production of safe and wholesome meat and poultry products under the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point System (HACCP) consists of three elements: 1. Developing and writing HACCP plans for each plant process. 2. Implementing and operating the HACCP system during on-going plant production. 3. Conducting procedures to verify that the HACCP program is operating effectively, in the manner described in the plans, and in line with current plant conditions.

Publish Date: June 3, 2006

The pork industry has made significant progress in recent years in altering the composition of carcasses, resulting fresh cuts and processed products to provide consumer products containing increased lean and less trimmable fat. This strong positive progress in product composition has allowed the industry to shift more attention to another important feature of pork, the quality of the lean. Lean quality in fresh pork could refer to a wide range of factors, but in this fact sheet, lean quality will focus on muscle color, texture, marbling and functionality (such as water-holding ability). These factors affect product attractiveness to potential customers, processing characteristics for value-added product manufacture and the ultimate palatability and satisfaction of pork products to consumers.