EUROPEAN meat science researchers comparing Australia’s Meat Standards Australia model with Europe’s equivalent have found potential benefits in adding the Aussie process to their carcase grading system.
Comparing MSA with the EUROP carcase grading system revealed gaps in the latter around sensory properties and consumer satisfaction, according to the researchers from Italy and France. The lack of intramuscular fat measurement was also noted.
“The EUROP carcase grading system considers only a few indicators,” they said. “This underscores the need for a comprehensive re-evaluation of EUROP carcase grading schemes to align with consumer preferences and promoting beef eating quality.”
The scientists were from Italy’s University of Padova and Associazione Zootecnica Veneta and France’s foremost food research agency INRAE. They consulted Australian MSA research dating back 30 years, including work by Rod Polkinghorne, Sarah Bonny, Alan Gee, Peter McGilchrist, John Thompson and Roger Watson.
The Europeans were examining the feasibility of adapting the MSA model “with the aim of maximising benefits for the European beef industry.”
Reporting in the peer-reviewed journal Meat Science, they said that the EUROP grading model emphasises yield and quantitative traits such as carcase conformation and exterior fat coverage.
Mainland European beef breeding programs traditionally focus on muscling, growth rate, carcase weight/yield and reduced surface and intramuscular fat.
“In contrast, Australia’s MSA grading scheme considers animals’ ossification, marbling and ultimate pH as primary indicators of beef eating-quality,” they noted.
Focussing on the Italian beef production system, they compared data from 3204 Charolais, Limousin, and crossbred young bulls and heifers between 2021 and 2022. One assessor was MSA-trained and accredited by AUSMeat, another accredited to EUROP carcase-grading specifications.
French and Italian production systems were included in the study, due to supply links between the two nations. The Italian beef production system mainly comprised young bulls and heifers of French breeds, imported at 10–14 months of age and 300–400kg carcase weight, while a significant proportion of French beef production is based on cull cows and calves for export.
The researchers wanted to see if MSA had relevance despite disparities in types of animals, production systems, diets and different supply chains in Australia and Italy.
They discovered no significant relationship between MSA traits and EUROP carcase grading scores, but that MSA was sensitive to factors such as sex, age, and seasonality.
“The Meat Standards Australia system stands out for its comprehensive assessment of beef palatability through pre- and post-slaughter characteristics,” they said. “The MSA grading scheme not only provides a nuanced understanding of beef quality, but also enables a practical and effective means of communicating this information to consumers through a clear, simple and easy-to-understand grading system.
“For instance, the MSA system has developed a simple index which could also be utilised for benchmarking and to track beef eating-quality trends of the carcase at regional, state or national levels.
Results of the study were a prelude to the potential benefits that the MSA grading scheme could bring to the European beef industry, the researchers said.
“Notably, the development of the MSA model in Australia has added value to the entire beef supplying chain because of better consumer satisfaction.”
The researchers were Matteo Santinello, Mauro Penasa, Arianna Goi, Nicola Rampado, Jean-François Hocquette and Massimo De Marchi.
- MSA’s 2023-24 Outcomes Report is being released tomorrow. Stand by for a report on Beef Central.
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