Effects of stress on meat quality?

Mr. Gain

Well-Known Member
It is, I think, generally held to be a truth that the flesh of animals instantly killed whilst in an unstressed state is better for the table than that of animals that are killed in flight, after running and subsequently requiring a coup de grâce, or after any other traumatic experience.

As it is common on the Continent to drive deer, boar and other game species to guns, are we to suppose that they are more concerned with the pleasures of the hunt than with those of the table? Or do they simply have different tastes in both? Or is the gastronomic difference not as marked as is commonly supposed?

For comparison, is it reasonable to suppose also that our pheasants, grouse, and partridges would taste better if we stalked them and took them unawares?

In the case of flying game, taken on the wing after being driven from their cover, any stress -and it stands to reason that there must be some- doesn't seem to make the dressed meat less than delicious. I wonder then why pre-mortem stress should affect the flesh of a deer so much as to spoil its flavour.

I should say here that I have been lucky enough never to have shot a deer that hasn't fallen within 10m of the strike site. [Small numbers, small species, short ranges], so have no experience of "stressed" carcases. Indeed, I shoot very few deer each year, so undoubtedly speak from a position of relative (and even absolute) ignorance.

Consequently, I'd be very glad to hear the views of the more expert gentlemen of the SD on the musings above.
 
An interesting question! This might help: CHAPTER 2: Effects of stress and injury on meat and by-product quality talking about PSE or DFD meat (which I vaguely recall from Meat hygiene lectures at vet school). Both relate to the muscle using up glycogen stores and altering the acidity of the meat so it's pale and soft or dry and firm. The DFD meat resembles Capture Myopathy - a potentially fatal condition associated with chasing/capturing wild animals - especially long legged herbivores. CM has been shown to be related, not surprisingly, to the duration of the chase, so I'd suggest the answer to your question is, "it depends". If the animal is excessively chased to exhaustion then yes, the meat will be poor. There is another aspect, in any drive or boar/pheasant, the animal can "escape". They have evolved to avoid been eaten by running away so some stress (good stress - eustress) is normal. A no escape chase is bad stress (distress) and leads to a variety of hormonal disturbances. You can see the no escape chase with the wild dogs running down a wildebeest.
I think that the stalking/driven shooting most of us are involved in doesn't produce deleterious stress. Hope that helps
 
Buchan,

that is a really interesting reply, and a very plausible answer.

So much so, in fact, that this might prove to be the shortest thread in SD history.

Many thanks,

Mr. G
 
There was a thread on here that mentioned electrocution after the carcass was hung to tenderise the meat.
 
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Don't you just love self correcting modern gadgets?
My girlfriend once sent a message to her mum when borrowing a dress off her that said " Don't know what you've done with this dress mum as it appears to have shrunk when you ****ed it!"

LOL anyway back on track;

My ex father in law was a farmer and he was always absolutely convinced that if the pork was good the pig died happy. Now whether he knew of any sound reasoning behind it or it was just something like an old wives tale did make me wonder. Food for thought!!!!
 
It is, I think, generally held to be a truth that the flesh of animals instantly killed whilst in an unstressed state is better for the table than that of animals that are killed in flight, after running and subsequently requiring a coup de grâce, or after any other traumatic experience.

As it is common on the Continent to drive deer, boar and other game species to guns, are we to suppose that they are more concerned with the pleasures of the hunt than with those of the table? Or do they simply have different tastes in both? Or is the gastronomic difference not as marked as is commonly supposed?

For comparison, is it reasonable to suppose also that our pheasants, grouse, and partridges would taste better if we stalked them and took them unawares?

In the case of flying game, taken on the wing after being driven from their cover, any stress -and it stands to reason that there must be some- doesn't seem to make the dressed meat less than delicious. I wonder then why pre-mortem stress should affect the flesh of a deer so much as to spoil its flavour.

I should say here that I have been lucky enough never to have shot a deer that hasn't fallen within 10m of the strike site. [Small numbers, small species, short ranges], so have no experience of "stressed" carcases. Indeed, I shoot very few deer each year, so undoubtedly speak from a position of relative (and even absolute) ignorance.

Consequently, I'd be very glad to hear the views of the more expert gentlemen of the SD on the musings above.

The continental view of hunting is that you give the animal a chance by driving them. Assassination of a grazing animal is un-sporting. The issue of safety (or not) is also paramount. Driven hunts are organised, having thirty stalkers wandering through the same wood will be counterproductive.

Stan
 
The continental view of hunting is that you give the animal a chance by driving them. Assassination of a grazing animal is un-sporting. The issue of safety (or not) is also paramount. Driven hunts are organised, having thirty stalkers wandering through the same wood will be counterproductive.

Stan

I'm sorry if you thought I was criticising driven hunting. Perhaps if you read my original post again -bearing in mind this is not my position- you'll see that there was no intention to imply any such thing.
 
Don't you just love self correcting modern gadgets?
My girlfriend once sent a message to her mum when borrowing a dress off her that said " Don't know what you've done with this dress mum as it appears to have shrunk when you ****ed it!"

LOL anyway back on track;

My ex father in law was a farmer and he was always absolutely convinced that if the pork was good the pig died happy. Now whether he knew of any sound reasoning behind it or it was just something like an old wives tale did
make me wonder. Food for thought!!!!


I like that, and I'll tell you what there might be more than an ounce of truth in it.
I'm certain that there is a difference in taste from a roe shot well and immediately bled, to one which has been badly shot and followed up (and secured) by the dog.
I'm sure adrenaline plays a big part in that.
 
I'm sorry if you thought I was criticising driven hunting. Perhaps if you read my original post again -bearing in mind this is not my position- you'll see that there was no intention to imply any such thing.

Not at all. On the continent it's more of a group social activity, both guns and beaters. Opposite to our solitary stalking approach. Hunters have respect and status in rural areas.

I had a grand day out in the Gredos in Spain last February on my birthday after an Ibex. Two hunters, two guides, one horseman and an interpreter. Suffice to say that after that walk we couldn't walk. Back to Madrid the night before flying home and in the hotel we really couldn't walk. Struggling to get up out of chairs etc. Once we showed photos to the barman everything changed. He was very attentive and sorted out a table in the restaurant for us later. The waiters and all the kitchen staff came to look at our photos and a lot of the drinks we had didn't appear on the bill.

I think the Continental ways are more set in society than they are here.

Stan
 
Stress does affect the meat, several times a year I unfortunately have to remove deer from a fence these are taken and turned in to dog food the last one I did out after I had done a clean shot one, their is a definite colour difference in the two bodies, the stressed body is browner in colour. As for taste the dog dosent seem to mind!

I was told by a butcher that if the eye of your bacon detaches in the pan the pig was most likely stressed at slaughter!
 
Stress does affect the meat, several times a year I unfortunately have to remove deer from a fence these are taken and turned in to dog food the last one I did out after I had done a clean shot one, their is a definite colour difference in the two bodies, the stressed body is browner in colour. As for taste the dog dosent seem to mind!

I was told by a butcher that if the eye of your bacon detaches in the pan the pig was most likely stressed at slaughter!
It's called FIRED UP. We get cattle from a livestock mart and have to stand them for a day because they use electric prodded in the mart. On arrival to us they are pumped up with adrenaline so if we done them right away they don't bleed as good and when in the chill they would be black........
 
Don't you just love self correcting modern gadgets?

I was was sent a text calling me a 'dualing aunt'.................no idea what the guy meant as we weren't talking.

With regard to meat & stress though, I don't believe an alerted animal, or even one that's being driven, is necessarily stressed as it's merely acting according to its natural instinct to evade perceived danger by fleeing. A very different story if the animal's first been wounded, or been driven so hard it's full of lactic acid & adrenalin though, perhaps?
 
This subject (stress) is covered briefly in the Best Practice Guide (Scotland) under Use of Helicopters, where the stress and reaction of animals is covered. Having been involved in this, blood samples were taken to ascertain adrenaline levels in the meat, and although the "amber" level was deemed fit for consumption, it certainly didn't look very good to me......
 
Do a search on PSE in pigs.

Pss (porcine stress syndrome) was once the biggest cause for the loss of pig meat at slaughter , I work in a large abattoir in Norway where pigs are kept in social groups in transit and right up to the point of slaughter where they enter the gas chamber ,they hardly see a human in the lairage as they are ushered along by moving doors, a fine mist falls onto them in the pens as this keeps them calm, the lairage is almost silent which is incredible concidering the high throughput of the plant , Pss is a thing of the past.
 
I seem to remember reading a while ago that the flesh of a bull killed in the fighting ring was much sought after.
I would imagine these animals are very stressed.
 
I had the same thoughts last year. I had shot a sika hind that dropped on the spot and a friend had shot one that had to be followed up by the dog. When he got it the dog had hold and he bled the animal. An unfortunate end to the day but it happens, thankfully not too often.
Anyways, leaving all the science to one side, we decided to do a blind taste test when we had butchered both hinds.
We cooked two roast haunch, one from each and got some friends to try it, unknowns to them what we were doing.
Result of our experiment........ nobody noticed any difference! To be honest i expected as much but it was a bit of fun and an excuse for a get together.
 
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