Abstracts - Process et Technologies

Better understand consumers and restore confidence in science.

This article in the last in a series of three reporting on the 70th International Congress of Meat Science and Technology (ICoMST), held in Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil, from August 18 to 23, 2024. Under the banner of responsible meat production, the event looked at ways to improve the production and processing of meat and meat products while minimizing environmental impact, ensuring animal welfare and maintaining food quality and safety for consumers. This final part deals with sessions 12, 13 and 14 on processors, consumers and societal issues. More information is available on the congress website (https://www.icomst2024.com/).

What approaches to the multiple facets of meat quality?

This second article in a series of three reports on sessions 3, 6, 7, 9, 10 and 11 of the 70th International Congress of Meat Science and Technology (ICoMST), held in Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil, from 18 to August 23, 2024. Under the banner of responsible meat production, the event addressed the current challenges facing the meat industry to respond to the multiple facets of demand, from the ethical component of animal welfare to the sensory quality of meat products, nutritional and health safety, shelf-life stability, adaptation to the specific population of elderly people, without forgetting quality measurement tools. More information is available on the congress website (https://www.icomst2024.com/).

ICoMST in Brazil, an event dedicated to responsible meat production.

This first paper in a series of three reports on sessions 1, 2 and 8 of the 70th International Congress of Meat Science and Technology (ICoMST), held in Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil, from August 18 to 23, 2024. Under the banner of responsible meat production, the event addressed ways of improving the production and processing of meat and meat products while minimizing environmental impact, guaranteeing animal welfare and maintaining food quality and safety for consumers. Further information is available on the congress website (https://www.icomst2024.com/).

Many studies have confirmed the positive impact of marbling on the overall palatability of meat. Thus, this criterion has been chosen by the French beef interbranch organization (INTERBEV) as a priority to better meet consumers expectations. However, husbandry practices that enhance marbling deposition are partially known. The objective of the present study was to identify practices which allow to produce marbled meat from females of beef breeds (Limousin and Charolais). Carcass measurements were carried out in slaughterhouses with the new French marbling grid (from 1: no marbling, to 6: very high marbling). Then, two farm’s groups were separated: one group producing carcasses with low marbling (Pers-: marbling score of 2.2 ± 0.8) and another group producing high marbling carcasses (Pers+: marbling score of 3.7 ± 0.9). Interviews of farmers were conducted to collect husbandry practices in an attempt to explain marbling levels. The results indicate two important nutritional periods that can affect marbling: 1) between 5 and 12 months of age, a period encompassing the “marbling window” already identified for Anglo-Saxon breeds, and 2) during finishing. The differences between the two extreme groups are important during these two periods. Indeed, between 5 and 12 months, farmers of the Pers+ group distribute concentrate during a longer period (5.1 ± 2.4 months) than farmers of the Pers- group (2.6 ± 2.0 months). Moreover, farmers of the Pers+ group distribute more concentrate than farmers of the Pers- group (around 30% of Pers+ farmers give it ad libitum vs 0% for the Pers- group). The fattening periods are longer for the Pers+ group (5.7 ± 1.4 months) than for the Pers- group (2.9 ± 0.9 months). In addition, energy levels during fattening are higher in the Pers+ group (+1.3 UFV/d compared to the Pers- group). The efficiency, technical and economic feasibility of the practices identified in this study must be confirmed in experimental farms to make them operational.

The importance of fat infiltration in meat for organoleptic quality has recently been demonstrated once again. As a result, marbling is a key area of research for INTERBEV (the French bovine meat interbranch organisation) with the aim of improving meat quality for consumers. An action plan has been set up and the Institut de l'Elevage (IDELE) has developed a measurement grid for INTERBEV enabling slaughterers to measure this criterion. The marbling level of French carcasses measured with this method has not yet been studied. The objective of this study is to take stock of marbling levels in French breeds and to identify the links between carcasses characteristics (age, weight, conformation, fatness) and marbling. The aim of the study is to provide the meat industry with references to help it meet consumer demands, particularly from an organoleptic point of view.

The role of marbling in beef and lamb quality - development, importance, measurement, harmonisation
This session, presented at the EAAP meeting in Florence on September 2nd, 2024, described research on marbling or intramuscular fat in beef and lamb. An overview of marbling development was presented with the important roles of genetics in terms of intramuscular adipocytes proliferation and location and muscle growth, along with the role of nutrition and animal age during finishing. The advent of new tools to measure intramuscular fat on-line has led to the development of a new Meat Standards Australian model to predict the eating quality of lamb based on balancing lean meat yield and intramuscular fat. Other technologies based on general lipid chemistry of muscle tissue such as Rapid Evaporative Ionisation Mass Spectrometry (REIMS) shows great promise to classify both flavour liking and the overall quality grade given by consumers to cook beef cuts. Finally, chemical intramuscular fat is proposed as the best method for underpinning future carcass grading schemes that currently use visual appraisal of marbling.