The effects of feeding a chocolate product on growth performance and meat quality of finishing swine

Abstract

The effects of including a waste chocolate confectionary product in swine diets on growth performance, carcass composition and meat quality of finishing pigs were determined. Four isocaloric, isonitrogenous diets were formulated to include 0, 10, 20 and 30% of a chocolate product in a pelleted corn and soybean-meal-based-diet and fed ad libitum to 32 gilts and 32 barrows from 54 kg to 105 kg. There were no significant differences among diets for average daily gain, feed intake and feed efficiency. Fat content in the diets increased from 3 to 7% with increasing inclusion, but there were no significant (P > 0.05) differences for backfat depth, total dissected fat, total lean or percent lean of the dissected carcass. With respect to meat quality, there were no significant differences observed for colour, structure and marbling of the loin and ham muscle. There were no treatment differences for the firmness of the inner backfat of pigs consuming the various diets. Waste chocolate confectionary can be fed to growing swine at inclusion levels up to 30% of the diet with no adverse effects on growth or carcass quality. Key words: Alternative feedstuff, chocolate, pigs, growth performance, carcass quality