Table 5.

Possible strategies to reduce boar taint perception according to the meat product type and boar taint level.

Products.	Boar Taint Level	Masking Capacity without Strategy 1	Strategies
Dry-cured ham	Low-Medium	+	Preselection of carcasses. Extra caution on salt reduction and long ripening process needed.
	High	+	Not recommended.
Dry-fermented sausages	Low-Medium	+++	Addition of microbial cultures (i.e., yeast) in combination to a long ripening process [106] or fast acidification [143]. Use of smoke [143,158]. Combining different methods is more efficient.
	High	+	Dilution with not tainted meat [133].
Fresh meat	Low-Medium	+	Use of leaner meat cuts [6,140]. Preparation at home and high serving temperatures not recommended [6]. Cooking for a longer time, at high temperatures and conditions that enable volatilization of boar taint: frying in oil [162]. It is recommended use of spices (especially those with distinctive aromas), their respective essential oils or liquid smoke [170,171] and their combinations [166,172,173]. Masking may be used for products with low to medium boar taint but is never complete.
	High	+	Not recommended. Intensive smoking and dilution [157,174].
Cooked meat products	Low-Medium	++	Open cooking process (allowing evaporation and drainage) should be applied. Combination of smoking and spices [133,178].
	High	+	Dilution (mixing of 1/3 of tainted with untainted meat/fat [180].

¹ Denotes for the ability of the commonly used processing practice to produce the specific product type; + = low; ++ = medium, +++ = high.