Abstracts - Economie et Consommation

“La joie de manger”, written by a recognized specialist in nutrition and member of the French Academy of Agriculture, places the act of eating in its globality with its three equally important functions: to nourish, to delight and to bring people together. He recalls the cultural dimension of our food. It shows how the food offer in our country is qualitatively and quantitatively remarkable and does not poison us, even if progress can and must still be made. The question of animalism and anti-speciesism, which are opposed from an anthropological point of view to the place of man, is largely developed from a moral and ethical angle. A spiritual approach to our diet gives this book an additional originality. Gratitude, respect, sharing, sobriety are values that can guide us far from dogmatic nutritional and ecological discourses. Thus, a peaceful relationship with our food and with others can be born. This book contrasts with many anxiety-provoking or moralistic books on food. Through five chapters, it addresses five facets of the place of food in human life.

The dromedary, also called one-humped camel or Arabian camel (Camelus dromedarius), has a particular feeding behavior. Indeed, its digestive physiology is entirely oriented towards the valorization of fodder with low nutritional value. The dromedary is a polygastric animal, but it is often qualified as "pseudo-ruminant". The meat of the latter is an ethnic food consumed in the arid regions of the Middle East and North Africa. Given its popularity for its medicinal and nutritional reputation, camel meat could be an excellent option for a sustainable global supply of red meat.

While the anatomical and physiological characteristics of the large camelids (dromedaries and Bactrian camels) have been widely commented by researchers, the modalities of its rearing (reproduction, lactation, feeding, fattening, sanitary and technico-economic management) in a context of "zootechnical modernization" are more rarely exposed. The present book attempts to provide a practical synthesis for all the new actors of this emerging sector.

With a strong growth in production and export over the last 20 years, Brazil continues to consolidate and strengthen its position in international beef markets. This article summarizes Brazil’s improvements and developments in this sector, tracing the evolution of the Brazilian beef market from 2000 to 2021, paying attention to quality indicators and changing consumer expectations. In addition, this article presents the challenges and prospects for the Brazilian beef sector and highlights including the positive economic, social, and technological developments resulting from the implementation of the Meat Standards Australia (MSA) grading scheme. Projections for the Brazilian and world beef market are based on Brazilian and international research reports. Although facing difficulties due to the economic and sanitary crisis, the forecasts for the Brazilian and international markets are promising. This is an opportunity for the Brazilian beef sector to demonstrate in a transparent way the reliability of its production processes, both at the farm level and at the processing level by meat companies.

The book "The beef supply chain in Algeria" published by the publisher “L'Harmattan” describes the cattle farming systems, processing and distribution of beef in Algeria. It is organised in seven chapters related to the characteristics of the sector, imports of cattle and beef, producers and collectors of beef cattle, distributors, structures of consolidation and processing, weaknesses in the competitiveness of the sector and the perception of beef by the Algerian consumer.

Poultry is the only species of meat to have seen its per capita consumption increase in France in 2021 (+1%), indicates the annual report on the consumption of meat products established by FranceAgriMer. At the same time, pork and lamb consumption remained stable and those of beef and veal fell by 0.6%. All species combined, the individual consumption of meat per inhabitant in France has continued its slow erosion for 25 years. It stood at 84.3 kg carcass equivalent of meat (kgec), far from the peak of 93.6 kg per inhabitant observed in 1998. Individual meat consumption, however, suffered only a very slight decline compared to 2020 (-0.1%). Thanks to population growth, the overall balance of French meat consumption is even on the rise (+0.7%).