Adopting a grading scheme inspired by the Meat Standards Australia (MSA) system is considered an effective way to strengthen consumer confidence in beef across Europe. However, differences between Europe and Australia in cattle breeds, production systems, and consumer dietary habits require a re-examination of the links among carcass and muscle traits, as well as beef eating qualities. In France, cull cows constitute a major beef source, with Limousine cattle being one of the predominant breeds. Accordingly, this study evaluated 102 French Limousine cull cows to investigate the relationships among carcass, muscles, and beef eating quality traits, and to explore the predictive value of key biological indicators for beef palatability. A comprehensive dataset integrating carcass grading traits assessed using the EUROP grid and the MSA protocol, muscle physicochemical measurements, and consumer sensory scores of beef was analyzed using correlation analysis, principal component analysis (PCA), and linear mixed-effects modelling. In older Limousine cull cows, marbling showed minimal contribution to eating quality prediction. Instead, traits related to muscle development, including age, carcass conformation, and compression force, played a dominant role in determining eating quality (P < 0.05). Model performance differed between consumer-evaluated MSA grade groups, defined as high grade (MSA grade ≥ 3) and low grade (MSA grade < 3). High-MSA grade samples exhibited more comprehensive biological features and achieved higher predictive accuracy, whereas low-MSA grade samples showed reduced model performance, likely due to narrower sensory variation and higher trait homogenization. These findings indicate that predictors of beef eating quality depend on animal type and age. In older cull cows, predictors of eating quality are likely to be more specific, particularly those related to muscle structure and maturity, at least in part. Overall, these findings provide practical guidance for the beef industry in predicting beef eating quality and improving grading systems for cull cows.

This study evaluated the impact of high oxygen modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) in four different combinations, 80 % oxygen and 20 % carbon dioxide (MAP80), 40 % oxygen, 20 % carbon dioxide and 40 % nitrogen (MAP40(20CO2)), 40 % oxygen, 60 % carbon dioxide (MAP40(60CO2)), and vacuum skin packaging (VSP) under different retail display times (3 or 8 days) on the sensory scores of lamb meat. Untrained consumer sensory scores for overall liking, tenderness, juiciness and liking of flavour were assessed on the M. longissimus lumborum (loin) and M. semimembranosus (topside) of 144 lambs. In general, MAP40(20CO2) samples received higher sensory scores than MAP80 (P < 0.05). While the high carbon dioxide MAP mixture MAP40(60CO2) scored similar to MAP80 (P > 0.05). Therefore, MAP40(20CO2) minimised the detrimental effects on eating quality and is a viable alternative to the widely used MAP80. However, the highest eating quality scores were still obtained with VSP (P < 0.05).

Predicting meat quality, especially dark, firm and dry meat, as well as muscle fat prior to slaughter, presents a challenge in practice. Medical as well as high-frequency ultrasound applications can be utilized to predict body composition and meat quality aspects. Ultrasounds are non-invasive, rapid-to-operate in vivo and show high correlations to the animal production traits being estimated. Farm animal ultrasounds are used to predict intramuscular fat content in the beef cattle industry. Challenges are identified in applying ultrasound technology to detect glycogen content in farm animals due to a wide range of fat, muscle and water composition. Other technologies and methods are reported in this literature review to overcome issues in the practicability and accuracy of ultrasound technology when estimating muscle glycogen levels in cattle. The discussion of other tools such as hyperspectral imaging, microwave sensor technology and digital infrared thermal imaging were addressed because of their superior accuracy in estimating moisture and fat components.

The current sheep Meat Standards Australia (MSA) model is a pathways system designed to improve the overall eating quality of Australian lamb, yet it is unable to predict individual consumer-based eating quality scores for specific cuts. This paper describes the methodology of using consumer sensory scores to create an objective composite eating quality prediction score linked to individual quality grades for different cuts. This methodology accounts for objective carcass measures that are being commercialised within the industry, such as intramuscular fat percentage and a measure of lean meat yield percentage. The model demonstrated that through utilising these carcass grading traits, an eating quality prediction can be made with an accuracy of 75 % and 72 % for the grill and roast cooking method respectively, however individual consumer variation remained substantial. The model will allow the supply chain to allocate cuts to different marketing strategies (branding) based on their eating quality performance whilst also reducing the chances of consumers being offered products that do not meet their expectations.

Untrained consumer-determined sensory scores of tenderness, juiciness, flavour liking, and overall liking possess a level of dependency due to poorer consumer ability to discriminate between these traits. Given that overall liking is strongly correlated to all traits, this study evaluated the contributions of sensory traits to the overall liking scores of Australian lamb. Tenderness, juiciness, flavour liking and overall liking of a range of lamb cuts were assessed by untrained Australian consumers (n = 18,720) following Meat Standards Australia protocols. The most important contributor to lamb overall liking was flavour liking (44.7%), followed by tenderness (28.3%) and juiciness (27.0%) (P < 0.05; R2 = 0.88). The contribution of the sensory traits to overall liking varied between meat quality categories, although the contribution of juiciness varied minimally. The contribution of flavour liking to overall liking became more important as loin intramuscular fat content increased. Whilst small differences in the contribution of tenderness and juiciness were present between cooking methods, untrained consumers evaluated overall liking in a similar manner regardless of cut type, demonstrating consumers' inherent ability to consistently evaluate meat products.

The Australian pork industry has been seeking a rapid and non-destructive way to predict pork chemical components and eating quality. In this study, near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) were applied to fresh pork Longissimus thoracis et lumborum (LTL) and Semimembranosus (SM) with the aim to build prediction models for intramuscular fat (IMF) content, collagen content and solubility, pH, and sensory attributes, namely tenderness, juiciness, liking of flavor and overall liking as well as investigate the effects of chemical components on pork eating quality. Results showed that the NIRS output, which was a predicted IMF content calibrated for the IMF of lamb, correlated with the chemically analyzed IMF content across both muscles. In LTL, NMR parameter p2f was weakly correlated with IMF and pH. For the LTL, NMR parameters p21 and p22 were related to sensory tenderness, while T22 was correlated with the liking of flavor. In both muscles, the collagen content and pH were related to all sensory attributes, and IMF was related to the liking of flavor. The chemical properties of SM were weakly correlated with those of LTL. The NIRS and NMR weakly predicted the pork chemical components and sensory properties, but more studies are required to improve the accuracy.

Limited studies are available assessing the impact of extended ageing on lamb eating quality of a wide range of cuts. From lamb (n = 153) and young mutton (n = 40) carcasses, seven cuts (eye of rack, eye of shoulder, knuckle, loin, outside, rump and topside) were collected and aged based on three ageing times (5, 14 or 21 days). Additionally, residual glycogen was determined from the loin at the corresponding ageing time. Untrained consumers assessed samples for tenderness, juiciness, flavour liking and overall liking. Increasing ageing time from 5 to 14 or 21 days significantly improved cut eating quality; however, ageing beyond 14 days showed no additional benefit. The ageing effect reduced when corrected for pH and temperature measurements, confirming ageing can improve eating quality when pH and temperature variation exists. Loin residual glycogen had no impact on eating quality at each ageing time. Our results confirm the importance of establishing optimum ageing times for cuts to ensure the highest consumer acceptability.

This study investigated how modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) with lower oxygen concentrations affects meat surface redness compared to standard 80% oxygen MAP for sheepmeat. Colour measuring instruments assessed redness (oxymyoglobin to metmyoglobin ratio and a*) in M. longissimus lumborum (loin) and M. semimembranosus (topside) from 50 Merino lambs. After 5 or 20 days of vacuum storage, meat samples were re-packaged into one of five MAP treatments (0, 20, 40, 60, or 80% oxygen), and colour was measured after 2, 6, or 10 days of retail display. Decreasing oxygen from 80% to 40% showed no negative impact on loin redness during retail display. Topside samples under 40% oxygen exhibited lower oxy/met values than 80% oxygen MAP at 2 and 6 days, with no difference after 10 days. This finding highlights the potential to reduce MAP oxygen content to 40% without compromising surface redness, potentially mitigating adverse effects on eating quality.

The lack of consumer feedback on beef eating quality contributes to reduced beef consumption in Europe. The Meat Standards Australia (MSA) grading scheme can assess the palatability of beef carcasses usually graded at 10th thoracic vertebrae. However, the European beef industry relies on late-maturing breeds usually cut at the 5th vertebrae due to commercial reasons. Data from 55 young bulls and heifers of late-maturing breeds were collected in an Italian slaughterhouse following the MSA guidelines at both carcass grading sites and sides. Intramuscular fat levels were assessed through two scores and used with other variables to feed the MSA model, which predicts the MSA index, the meat-eating quality scores (MQ4) for 5 muscles and for each carcass grading site × side combination. The scores were analyzed using a mixed linear model. A correlation analysis was conducted to predict the variables measured at the 10th site using their correspondent at the 5th carcass grading site. A stepwise regression was conducted to understand the weight of each measured variable on marbling and MQ4 scores measured both at 5th and 10th carcass grading sites. Results showed significantly higher value for the studied traits at the 5th carcass grading site, while carcass side had no significant impact. The equations had high predictive capability and MSA marbling score played a key role in explaining the variability across carcass grading sites. The differences in marbling and MQ4 scores between the carcass grading sites suggest considering this factor if the MSA grading system will be applied to Europe.

In 2016 an Australian project, the Advanced Livestock Measurement Technologies project (ALMTech), was initiated to accelerate the development and implementation of technologies that measure lean meat yield and eating quality. This led to the commercial testing, and implementation of a range of new technologies in the lamb, beef, and pork industries. For measuring lean meat yield %, these technologies included dual energy X-ray absorptiometry, hand-held microwave systems, and 3-D imaging systems. For measuring beef rib-eye traits and intramuscular fat %, both pre- and post-chilling technologies were developed. Post-chilling, a range of camera systems and near infrared spectrophotometers were developed. While pre-chilling, technologies included insertable needle probes, nuclear magnetic resonance, and X-ray systems. Initially these technologies were trained to predict the pre-existing traits already traded upon within industry. However, this approach was limiting because the technologies could measure attributes that were either non-existent in the trading language, were superior as calibrating standards, or more accurately reflected value than the pre-existing trait. Therefore, we introduced IMF% into the trading language for both beef and sheep meat, and carcase lean%, fat%, and bone% for sheep meat. These new technologies and the traits that they predict have delivered multiple benefits. Technology provider-companies are instilled with the confidence to commercialise due to the provision of achievable accreditation standards. Processors have the confidence to invest in these technologies and establish payment grids based upon their measurements. And lastly, it has enhanced data flow into genetic databases, industry data systems (MSA), and as feedback to producers.

Herein, we investigated the potential of REIMS analysis for classifying muscle composition and meat sensory quality. The study utilized 116 samples from 29 crossbred Angus x Salers, across three muscle types. Prediction models were developed combining REIMS fingerprints and meat quality metrics. Varying efficacy was observed across REIMS discriminations - muscle type (71 %), marbling level (32 %), untrained consumer evaluated tenderness (36 %), flavor liking (99 %) and juiciness (99 %). Notably, REIMS demonstrated the ability to classify 116 beef across four Meat Standards Australia grades with an overall accuracy of 37 %. Specifically, "premium" beef could be differentiated from "unsatisfactory", "good everyday" and "better than everyday" grades with accuracies of 99 %, 84 %, and 62 %, respectively. Limited efficacy was observed however, in classifying trained panel evaluated sensory quality and fatty acid composition. Additionally, key predictive features were tentatively identified from the REIMS fingerprints primarily comprised of molecular ions present in lipids, phospholipids, and amino acids.

Anecdotal suggestions that US consumers perceive Australian sheepmeat as more “gamey” or “stale” compared to US sheepmeat are potentially attributable to the extended chilled shipping times contributing to longer-aged meat and predominately pasture-fed grazing systems. This study evaluated the impact of diet and extended storage times on Australian sheepmeat using sensory scores as assessed by US consumers. Meat samples from Australian sheep (n = 80) fed a grass or grain diet were aged in a vacuum at 1–2 °C for 5, 21 or 45 days. Untrained consumers (n = 960) at Texas Tech University (Lubbock, Texas) assessed samples for overall liking, tenderness, juiciness and flavour using a scale from 1 (worst) to 100 (best). In general, US consumers scored grain- and grass-fed samples within the same storage period similarly (p > 0.05). Furthermore, storage from 5 to 21 days improved sensory scores by a maximum of 28.6 for tenderness for grass-fed outside cuts (p < 0.05), while storage for 21 to 45 days did not improve eating quality for most cuts of both diets (p > 0.05). This is an interesting finding for the Australian sheepmeat industry as long storage time has no negative effect on eating quality and US consumers enjoyed grass- and grain-fed sheepmeat equally.

Hotpot is a widely popular cooking method for sheepmeat in China. This study measured the sensory responses of 720 untrained Chinese consumers to Australian sheepmeat cooked using a hotpot technique with methods based on Meat Standards Australia protocols. Shoulder and leg cuts of 108 lambs and 109 yearlings were scored on tenderness, juiciness, flavour and overall liking with linear mixed effects models used to analyse the influence of muscle type and animal factors on these scores. On average, shoulder cuts were more palatable than legs cuts for all sensory traits (p < 0.01) and lambs compared to yearlings (p < 0.05). Intramuscular fat and muscularity were identified as strong drivers of eating quality (p < 0.05), with greater palatability for both cuts as intramuscular fat increased (range 2.5 to 7.5%), and muscularity decreased (as measured through loin weight adjusted for hot carcase weight). Consumers were unable to detect differences between animal sire type and sex in sheepmeat hotpot. These findings suggest shoulder and leg cuts performed comparatively well in hotpot compared to previously tested sheepmeat cooking methods and emphasise the importance of balanced selection for quality and yield traits to ensure that consumer satisfaction is maintained.

Based on the Meat Standards Australia (MSA) methodology, the objectives of this study were to evaluate the eating quality of grass-fed Angus x Salers beef by French consumers, across different muscle cuts (m. triceps brachii caput longum, m. longissimus dorsi et thoracis and m. rectus abdominis), ageing times (5 and 14 days) and muscle slicing and grilling methods (being distinguished by 2 different sides on the grill), and to further quantify whether the MSA model could predict the eating quality of the meat produced by these lean crossbred animals. The results showed that French consumers can discern significant differences in eating quality traits across muscle cuts but not between ageing times and muscle slicing methods. In this study, the accuracy of eating quality score (MQ4)-assigned MSA grade was 64.5%. Due to the lack of MSA data on these lean crossbred animals, the prediction of eating quality from carcass characteristics was less accurate than usual. However, these results do indicate that the MSA sensory testing protocol, the MQ4 calculation and the MSA quality grades could be used to support a consumer-based quality grading system in France.

It is clear that the societal role of meat is being challenged with ideological and simplified logic without substantiation from robust data-driven science. With this background, the international summit titled ‘The societal role of meat – what the science says’ was held in Dublin, Ireland, during October 2022, to provide evidence-based evaluations and the Dublin Declaration was signed by over 1000 scientists. In this paper, we provide a synopsis of the summit and then give context for evaluating the societal role of meat in Australia. The key themes of the summit were the essential roles of meat in (1) diet and health, (2) a sustainable environment and (3) society, economics and culture. Evidence clearly showed the role of meat as a nutrient-dense source of high-quality protein and micronutrients that can be safely consumed by humans. Further, the complementary role of livestock in agricultural systems was highlighted with both plant- and animal-based agriculture reliant on each other to maximise the efficient production of food. Thus, from both an Australian and world perspective, very little food considered to be human-edible is fed to livestock. The role of livestock in rural societies across the world was emphasised to underpin regional and national economies, with particular importance in those countries with developing economies to facilitate growing wealth to ‘step out’ of poverty and provide gender equality. Meat production, particularly from ruminants, is a critical part of Australian primary production and it is concluded that the Dublin Declaration is highly relevant to Australia. Finally, concern regarding future funding and organisation of research and extension is discussed. There is a need to continue funding highly collaborative programs that bring a broad range of disciplines together, in conjunction with undergraduate and postgraduate teaching to underpin the social license to operate for meat and livestock production.

Lamb growth can be optimised with genetic selection using sire Australian sheep breeding values, however, breeding value expression has been shown to be reduced with poor nutrition. It was therefore hypothesised that the genetic potential for lamb growth would also be reduced, where production factors such as multiple births limit growth. Live weights at birth, weaning, and post-weaning were collected from more than 18,000 lambs produced over five years and eight locations of the Sheep Cooperative Research Centre Information Nucleus Flock experiment, and the impact of environment, production factors, and genotype was determined using mixed effects regression. The genetic potential for lamb growth was moderated by environment, multiple births, and sire type (p < 0.05). Twin lambs achieved 76% of the expected weight gain at weaning and 58% post-weaning. For triplet lambs weight gains were drastically less at approximately 30% of the expected gain at the same time points. Lambs born to maternal sires consistently had the poorest response to genetic selection, achieving approximately half the expected weight gain. Hence, producers need to temper expectations for growth based on genetic selection, or employ mitigation strategies such as precision feeding, the use of alternate breeds, or place emphasis on the genetic merit of other desirable traits.

This paper reports genetic parameter estimates for correlations between consumer eating quality and carcase traits for Terminal sire sheep breeds. Four consumer sensory-assessment traits (tenderness, flavour, juiciness, liking) were collected on loin and topside cuts (n~2,700). Heritability estimates (h2) were low to moderate for these traits (0.12 0.94) and across cuts (ȓg >0.61). There were moderate to high correlations of sensory with the objective eating quality traits (intramuscular fat and shear force) and low to moderately negative correlations with carcase lean meat yield. These estimates can be used to revise selection indexes, and potentially develop breeding values for consumer eating quality in multi-trait models with on-farm and carcase traits.

Lumbar bone mineral concentration, as predicted by dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (DEXA), may reflect changes in lamb maturity and eating quality. New season (n = 60) and old season (n = 60) lambs were slaughtered and DEXA scanned at a commercial abattoir across 2 kill groups. The second lumbar vertebra was isolated from the spine for determination of calcium, phosphorus, and magnesium concentration (mg/g). The loin and rack cuts were collected for consumer sensory grilling and roasting analyses. Mineral concentration was significantly higher in old season lambs within kill group 1 (P < 0.05). DEXA was a positive predictor of phosphorus and calcium concentration, but only when DEXA lean % (P < 0.05) was included in the model. Calcium and phosphorus were significant positive predictors of overall liking scores (P < 0.05), but only for the rack roast. These effects became insignificant when DEXA lean % was included. These results suggest that DEXA values likely reflect changes in both DEXA lean % and bone minerals, and that DEXA lean % was the driver of eating quality, rather than maturity.