Quality of fresh meat

Meat is one of the most important foods in the diet of the vast majority of people. It supplies easily absorbed iron and assists in the absorption of iron from other foods as well as zinc, and is a concentrated source of high quality protein and some of the B vitamins and its essential amino acids content usually compensate for deficiencies in diets made up mainly of cereals and other vegetable proteins.

Consumers want the meat they eat to not only taste better but also be safe, nutritious, and have an extended shelf life. Thus, consumers’ concern about the meat food quality has led to the development and application of analytical techniques for the evaluation of meat quality and safety.

In order to produce high quality meat, it is necessary to understand the characteristics of meat quality traits and factors that affect it.

Fresh meat quality is difficult to define because it is a complex concept determined by consumer preferences. Because fresh meat is animal tissue that is suitable for use as food, the quality characteristics are influenced by various factors such as muscle structure, chemical composition, chemical environment, interaction of chemical constituents, postmortem (p.m.) changes in muscle tissues, stress and pre-slaughter effects, product handling, processing and storage, microbiological numbers and populations, etc.

Meat quality encompasses chemical, microbiological, sensory, and technological attributes. Meat has varied commercial value due to the perceptual attributes that consumers expect to be present. The most important are tenderness, juiciness, and flavor.

Meat quality should be defined by most consumer preferences. Quality factors perceived by consumers are related to sensory characteristics (i.e., colour, tenderness and flavour), nutritional properties (i.e., calories, vitamins content, fatty acids profile, etc.) and appearance (i.e., exudation, marbling, amount of fat, etc.).

Also, fresh meat quality can be defined by scientific factors including composition, nutrients, colorants, water-holding capacity (WHC), tenderness, functionality, flavors, spoilage, contamination, etc.
Quality of fresh meat