The Problem of Dark-Cutting in Beef: A Seminar in the EEC Programme of Coordination of Research on Animal Welfare, organised by D.E. Hood and P.V. Tarrant, and held in Brussels, October 7–8, 1980

Description

This publication contains the proceedings of a seminar 'The problems of dark-cutting in beef' held by the Commission of the European Communities (CEC) at the Commission in Brussels on 7 and 8 October 1980. As part of the CEC programme of coordination of agricultural research, this meeting was organised in the framework of the beef and animal welfare activities by Dr. D.E. Hood and Dr. P.V. Tarrant, Meat Research Department, An Faras Taluntais. Dunsinea, Castleknock, Dublin, Ireland. The proceedings, edited by the organisers assisted by Janssen Services, 33a, High Street, Chislehurst, Kent, UK, provide an authoritative text-book on this important aspect of meat technology. Reduction of pre-slaughter stress and improvement in carcass and meat quality is becoming increasingly important in the international meat trade. This results in particular from growing consumer concern about the welfare of meat animals during the pre-slaughter period and from specific meat packaging and marketing requirements. Technical development of the beef processing industry is dependent on a uniformly high level of meat quality in the raw material. Front Matter....Pages I-XI Front Matter....Pages 1-1 The Occurrence, Causes and Economic Consequences of Dark-Cutting in Beef — A Survey of Current Information....Pages 3-36 Beef Quality, Marketing and the Consumer....Pages 37-59 Front Matter....Pages 61-61 Muscle Metabolic Type and the DFD Condition....Pages 63-85 Control Mechanisms for the Enzymes of Glycogen Metabolism in Muscle....Pages 86-100 Characteristics of the Metabolism of Carbohydrate in Ruminants Compared with other Mammals....Pages 101-125 Front Matter....Pages 127-127 Environmental and Behavioural Influences on the Supply of Energy for Muscle during Life and Consequences Post Mortem ....Pages 129-140 Behaviour of Domestic Cattle under Modern Management Techniques....Pages 141-169 Animal Welfare in Relation to Transport, Lairage and Slaughter in Cattle (A Review)....Pages 170-186 Front Matter....Pages 187-187 Hereditary Aspects of Susceptibility to Stress in Meat Animals....Pages 189-198 Double-Muscling and Sensitivity to Stress....Pages 199-210 Front Matter....Pages 211-211 Preventive Treatments during the Pre-Slaughter Period....Pages 213-230 Early Identification of the DFD Condition in Pre- Rigor Beef Carcasses....Pages 231-252 Electrical Stimulation of Ante Mortem Stressed Beef....Pages 253-268 Animal Stress and its Effect on Rigor Mortis Development in Lambs....Pages 269-288 Identification and Minimisation of DFD in Young Bulls in Denmark....Pages 289-302 Front Matter....Pages 303-303 Microbiology of DFD Beef....Pages 305-327 Translucency and Colour Defects of Dark-Cutting Meat and their Detection....Pages 328-343 Eating Quality of DFD Beef....Pages 344-361 Practical Aspects of the Use of Dark Firm Dry (DFD) Meat....Pages 362-376 Front Matter....Pages 377-377 Influence of Holding Animals before Slaughter....Pages 379-386 Front Matter....Pages 377-377 Post-Mortem Muscle Biochemistry and Beef Quality....Pages 387-394 Influence of Temperature, Fasting and Transportation....Pages 395-403 Effects of Transportation and Pre-Slaughter Holding on Some Blood Parameters and on Meat Quality in Fattening Bulls....Pages 404-409 Development of Special Feeds for Young Bulls Kept in Overnight Lairages....Pages 410-416 Selective Glycogen Depletion and Recovery in Skeletal Muscles Fibre Types of Young Bulls Subjected to a Behavioural Stress....Pages 417-429 The Breakdown of Muscle Glycogen during Behavioural Stress in Normal and Beta-Adrenoreceptor Blocked Young Bulls....Pages 430-439 Factors Influencing Muscle Glycogen Synthesis after Adrenaline Induced Depletion in Beef Heifers....Pages 440-453 Some Odours Produced by Bacteria on High pH and Normal Beef....Pages 454-461 The Incidence of Dark-Cutting Beef in Young Bulls in Finland....Pages 462-475 The Use of Freeze-Drying in Investigations on the Microbiology of Vacuum-Packed DFD Beef....Pages 476-493 Summary....Pages 494-500 Back Matter....Pages 501-504