Recent technological developments and future trends in the evaluation and prediction of beef sensory quality in Brazil and France

Abstract

Brazil and France, which are two major beef players, continue to consolidate and strengthen their respective positions on international beef markets. This review summarizes Brazil's and France's recent technological developments in this sector, tracing the recent evolution of their beef markets with attention to indicators of quality, meeting consumer expectations, as well as to future trends in new techniques for predicting beef sensory quality. In addition, this review will focus on the feasibility of implementing the Meat Standards Australia (MSA) grading protocols (known internationally as the Guaranteed Global Grading (3G protocols) by the International Meat Research 3G Foundation. Implementations of the MSA/3G grading scheme as recommended by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) are particularly attractive because of MSA's proven record of increasing the reliability and accuracy of predictions of the sensory quality of beef through the use of pre- and post-slaughter factors. Additionally, the feasibility of new technologies for assessing the eating quality of beef has been evaluated by comparing the marbling scores of beef given by accredited graders for the MSA/3G method with those obtained using portable devices based on these new technologies. In this way, it is expected that implementation of the MSA/3G methodology and nondestructive techniques to evaluate the quality and safety of beef in Brazil and France will more reliably predict and further improve sensory quality, similar to what has already been implemented elsewhere.