In recent years, economic pressure on pig production
has resulted in intensification of production methods
in order to decrease production costs. As a consequence,
animal health and welfare and environmentally
friendly production have been pushed into the background.
Furthermore, the production of lean carcasses
to meet consumers’ demands for low-fat pork has resulted
in a substantial decrease of intramuscular fat
levels and an increased concern that eating quality may
be consequently reduced (Cisneros et al., 1996).
To face these new challenges, alternative production
methods such as organic livestock farming have been developed. Due to the extensive production
system there is doubt whether organic production can
meet the demands of high carcass quality (Branscheid,
1996). There is, however, very little information on the
impact of organic feeding regimes on growth, carcass,
and meat quality characteristics of pigs. The results from this experiment suggest that the organic livestock production standards do not necessarily
result in lower pig performance. The exclusion of synthetic
amino acids can be compensated for by other
protein sources such as potato protein. The avoidance
of supplementation with amino acids favors the production
of meat with high intramuscular fat without causing
an overly fat pig. The strategy to increase intramuscular
fat by a reduced supply of limited amino acids
requires further studies in relation to the impact on
palatability. The organic approach provides a tool for
producers to manipulate intramuscular fat levels to
meet specific market requirements with limited impact
of on-farm performance. The higher intramuscular fat
content has higher production costs than the conventional
product but is in tune with the philosophy of
organic agriculture.