AN INTRODUCTION TO THE OECD PROGRAM - MEAT QUALITY AND THE QUALITY OFANIMAL PRODUCTION

A survey is given of direct and indirect quality characteristics of me at. The latter are associated with the animal production systems. it i s stated that integration and quantification of these criteria, evalua tion of interactions between them and consideration of the social acce ptance of the associated production methods is a major challenge for t he modern animal scientist. The development of these concepts since 19 80 within the workshops of the consecutive Organisation for Economic C o-operation and Development (OECD) research programmes is described. A s a model for a more integrated approach, personal efforts of the auth or related to the nutritional engineering of beef fat composition, the role of meat proteases and lipases in flavour development of fermente d meat and the effects of breeding and use of growth-promoting substan ces on meat sensory quality are summarized. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.