Relationships among different stress parameters (lairage time and blood level of
lactate and
cortisol), meat quality parameters (initial and ultimate pH value, temperature, drip loss, sensory and instrumental colour, marbling) and carcass quality parameters (degree of
rigor mortis and skin damages, hot carcass weight, carcass fat thickness, meatiness) were determined in pigs (n = 100) using Pearson correlations. After longer lairage, blood
lactate (p<0.05) and degree of
injuries (p<0.001) increased, meat became darker (p<0.001), while drip loss decreased (p<0.05). Higher
lactate was associated with lower initial pH value (p<0.01), higher temperature (p<0.001) and skin blemishes score (p<0.05) and more developed
rigor mortis (p<0.05), suggesting that
lactate could be a predictor of both meat quality and the level of preslaughter stress.
Cortisol affected carcass quality, so higher levels of
cortisol were associated with increased hot carcass weight, carcass fat thickness on the back and at the sacrum and marbling, but also with decreased meatiness. The most important meat quality parameters (pH and temperature after 60 minutes) deteriorated when blood
lactate concentration was above 12 mmol/L.