Abstracts - Process et Technologies

The “GREEANIMO” project is a collaborative project between the University of Trakia in Bulgaria, INRAE in France and SRUC in Scotland. It concerns the breeding of herbivores according to the principles of agroecology and the quality of the meat. The project is structured according to four themes: “Improving meat quality”; “Increasing feed efficiency”; “Improving animal welfare”; “Design of sustainable ruminant breeding systems”. This session was open to all researchers from the GREEANIMO project but also to any researcher outside this project with scientific activity linked to one of these four themes.

The posters associated with this session displayed on the first two days of the joint EAAP/WAAP congress presented the latest scientific research on grading methods of beef, lamb and pork carcasses. Studies conducted on three continents show a craze in the meat industry for the use of innovative methods for predicting carcass quality. The results of these studies demonstrate a high potential for determining carcass characteristics to help the meat industry address issues such as predictions of carcass yield, composition and quality. The use of these prediction tools can guide the creation of quality assured supply chains and allow the industry to meet the needs of consumers at the center of attention.

This session presented at the recent combined EAAP/WAAP in Lyon described research on carcase grading to predict the true carcase value which is a product of eating quality of the cuts sold (determining price/kg) and lean meat yield determining the amount of meat sold. The results clearly show that it is possible to develop more sophisticated commercial grading systems underpinning true carcase value by using both traditional and new carcase grading technologies, importantly linked to the prediction of eating quality using untrained consumer based sensory testing. The new grading technologies based on X-ray and vision-based devices combined with rigorous statistical analysis, will lead to improved accuracies and precision. Even new traits like chemically measured intramuscular fat may replace human based visual grading of marbling. This will also facilitate carcase traits to be routinely used to underpin commercial genetic evaluation programmes.

The livestock industry in China is experiencing a notable shift towards quality and sustainability, driven by globally collaborative efforts and research advancements. This article, which is a compilation of the work presented at the EAAP congress (session 30), provides an overview of key topics in the meat industry of China, France and Australia. Ranging from the quality assessment and sustainable development of the meat field through triangular cooperation, to the quality characteristics and regulation of meat and meat production. Additionally, it explores consumer perceptions and factors affecting sensory appeal, as well as marbling evaluation in French bovines. Furthermore, it delves into the intricate relationship between nutrition, metabolism, and the efficiency of beef and lamb production. Through a collection of research findings, this article highlights the multifaceted landscape of China's livestock industry and the evolving factors influencing its growth.

The beef industry is structured by two types of consumption: everyday purchases oriented towards economical products in tender portions, often processed (such as chopped steak) and pleasure purchases oriented towards a search for gustatory pleasure and the satisfaction of societal and environmental criteria.
However, it is difficult for the industry to guarantee regular and homogeneous products to satisfy consumers. These inadequacies stem from the current carcass grading systems. Thus, the professionals we met appear to be in favor of a change in the grading system based on a sensory quality prediction system that could be inspired by foreign systems such as "Meat Standards Australia" for butchered cuts. Such a system, through its segmentation, could meet the expectations of both types of consumption, daily and pleasure, allowing to generate an added value for the whole sector as it is the case in Australia. However, the diversity of organizations with sometimes divergent interests makes it very unlikely, in the short term, to set up a prediction system on a sector-wide scale. Thus, the implementation of a carcass prediction system would more likely be the result of an individual initiative. The links where an individual initiative is most likely are, on the one hand, mass distribution for which the triggering lever lies in the dissemination of knowledge and, on the other hand, meat companies independent of livestock farming that wish to ensure a regular and qualitative supply. In addition, economic, operational, political and knowledge barriers make it unlikely that a sensory quality prediction system for beef will be developed collectively or by the upstream sector. However, a low probability exists, depending on the perception of a possible socio-economic opportunity by an innovative organization or on the evolution of European regulations.

In the last 40 years, the French bovine meat value chain improved bovine carcass performances, reducing the amount of adipose tissue and therefore marbling of meat. The importance of fat infiltration in meat for organoleptic quality has been once again recently proved. Thus, marbling is a research axis of INTERBEV (the French bovine meat interbranch organisation) in order to improve meat quality for consumers. Nevertheless, rearing factors impacting marbling level in meat have been poorly studied in France. The objective of this review is to identify breeding factors linked to animal or feeding which could enhance marbling level of bovine meat.