210 Awardee Talk: The Future of Beef: Improved Eating Quality and Livestock Systems, But No Cultured Meat

Abstract

Abstract Beef quality includes intrinsic (e.g., safety, palatability, healthiness) and extrinsic traits (e.g., animal health and welfare, environmental impacts). Concerns for extrinsic traits is increasing. In this context, cultured meat is advertised as a good alternative for consumers who want to be more responsible. However, the control of its safety and of its nutritional composition is still unclear, especially for micronutrients. Regarding environmental issues, the potential advantages of cultured meat related to greenhouse gas emissions are a matter of controversy. In this context, improving existing livestock management to have more eco- and animal-friendly systems is a key issue. In addition, communication to consumers about meat production should be more objective and well-balanced. However, there is still a high level of variability in beef palatability, which induces consumer dissatisfaction. Most grading systems describe carcasses using simple traits (e.g., weight, conformation, fatness). In parallel, research has focused on predicting beef palatability using muscle biochemical traits and biomarkers. For this, a precise definition of variables (e.g. tenderness) and repeatability of the measurements are crucial. Strategic choices have been made for the Meat Standards Australia (MSA) grading scheme to consider real consumers’ expectations, not well estimated by lab approaches. Furthermore, the “big data” approach should be encouraged to improve the Findability, Accessibility, Interoperability, and Reusability of data (the FAIR Principles). The ambitions of the International Meat Research 3G Foundation is to set up an international database with a large number of consumers’ scores to offer a predictive model of beef palatability, flexible enough to consider any local characteristics. This approach is supported by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe to improve transparency and price signaling along the value chain.