One of the main goals of organizations and industries
involved in Iberian pig production is the implementation of an
integral quality control system able to certify at any moment the
authenticity of products, in order to establish their price as a
function of their real quality. Control programs include
recording of field data, like live weights at the beginning of
“montanera”, duration of this phase, amount of available acorns,
number of animals, etc., together with laboratory analyses of
sub-cutaneous fat. In this sense, the Spanish Ministry of
Agriculture, Fishery and Food (MAPA) establishes each year an
official norm for the commerce with fattened Iberian pigs
destined to slaughtering and transformation, where classification
of pigs in commercial categories is set based on quality
specifications about animal weights and feeding program; as
well as fatty acid contents (palmitic, stearic, oleic and linoleic),
determined by gas chromatography in sub-cutaneous fat