**5. Off-farm factors affecting meat quality**

Animal farms are usually far away from main markets and meat processing plants. So, they are transported to other places with their loading and unloading and both should be carried out in a gentle way. Good loading and unloading techniques have been stated by [62]. Environmental stress is the main issue in transportation which have to face the animals such as high or low temperature, humidity, overcrowding and noise [63]. Meat quality is highly affected by over speed of vehicles, sudden breaks and long travel times. Appropriate measurements should be carried to minimize stress level.

Sometimes, animals are carried to markets where they face different type of stress in the form of hot or cold weather, noise, novel environment and new social grouping. Starvation and dehydration may be faced if feed and water is not given for a long time. Their skin can show different degrees of bruising. McNally and Warriss [64] stated that bruising prevalence varies from 2 to 8%. Adzitey and Nurul [62] addressed the possible measurements to reduce marketing stress and definitely pale soft exudate and dry firm dark. The pH values of meat for normal, PSE and DFD meat are shown in **Table 1**.

Feed and water should be offered to animal when they are transported and marketed. Council of Europe [68] said that proper feed and water should be offered to the animals at appropriate intervals during transportation. Without feeding and watering, they should not be left in this condition more than 24 hours of time. Although, if the destination is near and unloading will be done in sensible period,


**Table 1.**

*The range of pH values of normal, PSE and DFD meat.*

**Figure 2.**

*The visual color of normal, PSE and DFD meat [the images were taken from PhD thesis of first author i.e., of Muawuz Ijaz].*

this time can be increased. It is essential to provide them feed and water and if it is not fulfilled, depletion of muscle glycogen and weight loss can be occurred. Overfeed and water enhances gut fill, processing period and contamination and it should be avoided.

Before the slaughtering of animal, they are kept in the lairage which is a collection center of different animals. It is meant to recovery from stress and physical examination of the animal. If the animal is retained here for a longer time, some water and feed are also offered. Lairage is also a place to enhance meat quality of animals. On the other hand, it is a reservoir of pathogens as carcass contamination is increased by longer holding period [69]. Carcass and meat quality is damaged by electrical goads, beating and microbial contamination. So, the lairage measurements need to be improved according to animal desire.

Stunning is the last step of pre-slaughter handling of animals and it is done to make animal unconscious and insensitive. The equipment used for stunning has great concern with carcass and meat quality. Electrical stunning with high voltage can causes vertebral rupture, blood splash and low meat quality in pork [70]. Calkins et al. [71] stated that blood splash in pigs are due to electrical goads. To minimize stress level, well trained staff and stunning tool should be used.

Carcass and meat quality is affected by poor and inappropriate pre-slaughter handlings at the time of animal growing, loading, transferring, marketing, unloading, lairage and stunning [72]. Some of the concerned effects are; mortality of animals, low carcass yields, blood splash, broken bones, bruises, pathogen contamination and PSE and DFD. The color of normal, PSE and DFD meat is shown in **Figure 2**.
