Abattoir Practices and Animal Products Technology

BRISTLES

• Bristles are stiff, wiry hairs of pigs, hogs or boars.
• These are used for making various types of brushes.
• Bristles are generally obtained from back, neck and tail because those growing on flank and belly are too short to serve the intended purpose.
• Pig bristles are coarse and stiff in nature.
• They taper from base to the tip, which shows, splits or flagged appearance.
• In fact, flagged tips make them highly suitable for paint and varnish work due to their paint holding property.
• Shaving brushes made from soft bristles are superior to synthetic shaving brushes due to their water absorption and holding properties.
• China holds the leading position in the production and export of bristles followed by India and Russia.
• Bristles are mostly obtained from indigenous and crossbreed pigs in our country.
• Indian bristles are known for their coarseness and stiffness, so these are stout and strong but have longer flag (almost 30% of their total length) that is required to be trimmed before dressing.
• This factor decreases their value.
• Bristles are plucked from living pigs or boars either once or twice a year.
• These are also pulled out from slaughtered or fallen animals.
• These are also obtained by shaving slaughtered animals after scalding in some bacon factories.
• Bristles obtained from live animals are superior in lusture and resilience than those obtained from fallen animals.