Research into poultry meat quality.

1. Research in the field of poultry meat quality has become more varied during the last 50 years. Besides meat content and microbial condition, animal welfare issues during the slaughter process, muscle morphology, physiology of meat ripening, impact of slaughter process on meat quality, sensory attributes of meat and meat processing have come into focus. 2. The present review summarizes findings and developments in the fields of muscle physiology, meat ripening and meat quality aberrations (like PSE), nutrient composition and sensory qualities, effect of the slaughter process on carcass and meat quality, hygienic conditions and product safety during slaughtering, all based on selected papers published in British Poultry Science during the last 50 years. 3. Some special findings and conclusions are lifted out of the whole results presented in the papers to indicate their importance and to show their contribution to the development of knowledge in the respective field.