Indicators of Milk and Beef Quality

The farming and agri-food sectors are faced with an increasing demand by consumers for high-quality products. The current major questions are thus how to define quality, and how to increase the quality of animal products to satisfy these new requirements. This is the reason why the Cattle Commission of the European Association of Animal Production (EAAP) organised a specific session on this topic in September 2004. This session dealt with the manipulation and evaluation of bovine milk and meat composition and quality using various indicators (commercial, physical, biochemical, molecular or other). These indicators are any method, biological trait, or physical property which may be useful to predict a quality trait. Quality includes: sensory traits, nutritional properties of products, their ability to be processed and also any consideration of traceability (genetic, geographic or nutritional traceability). Thus, the full spectrum of quality attributes is discussed. Indicators may also be considered as predictors. In this respect, contributors discuss the detection early in life of the ability of animals to produce meat or milk of high quality. Indicators may also be useful for consumers when they buy meat or milk, as official or commercial signs of quality.