International (in particular Europe) collaboration on beef and lamb carcase grading to underpin consumer satisfaction.

Summary

The aim of this project was to organize and run a 2 day workshop titled "International meeting on Beef and Lamb carcase grading to underpin consumer satisfaction". The meeting was held at the INRA headquarters in Paris on 20/21 August 2015 and was hosted by Meat & Livestock Australia and INRA. This workshop was run immediately before the International Congress of Meat Science & Technology, Clermont-Ferrand, France and invitees included scientists, processors and retailers.

The 2 day meeting consisted of 19 presentations centered on the theme that modern beef and lamb products must meet the expectations of consumers who purchase red meat to cook it as a meal solution. The focus was based around the Meat Standards Australia (MSA) grading platform which is designed as a sensory or eating quality grading system for underpinning a cooked meal performance that is matched to the occasion and requires no specialist knowledge by the consumer.

The aims of the meeting were to:

• encourage consumer-focused sensory research for beef and lamb with key collaborating international partners using common protocols.
• facilitate where appropriate MSA like systems that focus on consumer satisfaction.
• work towards a global model for sharing sensory data using the MSA protocols that can be used for scientific and for commercial purposes.
• explore models for funding future research collaboration.

This workshop unanimously supported the need for evidence-based systems to underpin eating quality for lamb and beef in order to keep consumers purchasing products that are higher in price than the white meat competitors. Registrations were received from 80 people covering 17 countries (Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Italy, Japan, Republic of Ireland, Poland, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, Thailand, United Kingdom, United States of America) creating a dynamic workshop atmosphere.