FARAH, Faculté de Médecine vétérinaire, Université de Liège, 4000 Liège, Belgium.
Bordeaux Science Agro, 33175 Gradignan, France; Université d'Auvergne, INRAE, Vetagro Sup, UMR Herbivores, 63122 Saint Genès-Champanelle, France.
Animal. 2022 Feb;16 Suppl 1:100426. doi: 10.1016/j.animal.2021.100426. Epub 2022 Jan 12.
This paper reviews the current state of knowledge on beef carcass and meat quality, with particular emphasis on on-farm and processing factors associated with its high and inconsistent variability. The diversity of livestock systems comes from the diversity of breeds (dairy or beef), ages and gender (bulls, steers, heifers, cull cows) used to produce either mainly beef or beef and milk. In addition, there are factors linked to farming practices (including diet, especially grazing) which significantly influence the sensory, nutritional, technological and extrinsic (such as image) quality attributes of meat. These can become factors of positive differentiation when controlled by the application and certification of technical specifications. Finally, preslaughter (such as stress), slaughter (such as the chilling and hanging method of carcasses) and postslaughter (such as ageing, packaging and cooking) conditions have a strong influence on the microbiological, sensory, technological and image quality attributes of beef. In this review, potential synergisms or antagonisms between the different quality attributes are highlighted. For example, finishing cattle on grass, compared to indoor fattening on a high concentrate diet, has the advantage of producing leaner meat with a higher proportion of omega-3 fatty acids while exhibiting superior oxidative stability, but with the consequence of a darker meat colour and lower productivity, as well as higher seasonality and land surface requirements. Moreover, the control of on-farm factors is often guided by productivity (growth rate, feed conversion ratio) and carcass quality attributes (weight, conformation and fatness). Genetic selection has often been oriented in this direction, without taking other quality attributes into account. Finally, the interactions between all these factors (and especially between on-farm and slaughter or processing factors) are not considered in the quality grading schemes in European countries. This means that positive efforts at farm level may be mitigated or even eliminated by poor slaughtering or processing conditions. All these considerations explain why between-animal variability in quality can be high, even when animals come from the same farming system. The ability to predict the sensory and nutritional properties of meat according to production factors has become a major objective of the supply chain.
本文综述了当前关于牛肉胴体和肉质的知识状况，特别强调了与高变异性和变异性不一致相关的农场和加工因素。牲畜系统的多样性来自于用于生产主要是牛肉或牛肉和牛奶的品种（奶牛或肉牛）、年龄和性别（公牛、阉牛、小母牛、淘汰母牛）的多样性。此外，还有与养殖实践（包括饮食，特别是放牧）相关的因素，这些因素显著影响肉的感官、营养、技术和外在（如形象）质量属性。当通过应用和认证技术规范进行控制时，这些因素可以成为积极差异化的因素。最后，宰前（如应激）、屠宰（如胴体的冷却和悬挂方式）和宰后（如成熟、包装和烹饪）条件对牛肉的微生物、感官、技术和形象质量属性有很强的影响。在本综述中，突出了不同质量属性之间的潜在协同作用或拮抗作用。例如，与室内高浓缩饲料育肥相比，在草地上育肥的牛具有生产更瘦、含有更高比例的ω-3 脂肪酸的肉的优势，同时表现出更好的氧化稳定性，但结果是肉色较暗、生产力较低，以及更高的季节性和土地表面要求。此外，农场因素的控制通常以生产力（生长速度、饲料转化率）和胴体质量属性（体重、体型和脂肪度）为导向。遗传选择往往朝这个方向发展，而不考虑其他质量属性。最后，所有这些因素（特别是农场因素和屠宰或加工因素之间的相互作用）在欧洲国家的质量分级方案中都没有得到考虑。这意味着在农场层面的积极努力可能会因屠宰或加工条件差而减弱甚至消除。所有这些考虑解释了为什么即使动物来自相同的养殖系统，质量的个体间变异性也可能很高。根据生产因素预测肉的感官和营养价值已成为供应链的主要目标。
