The Meat We Eat: Notions of Quality for Today and Tomorrow. 2. The Appeal and Organoleptic Properties of Meat

Abstract

A host of factors influences the decision to buy a meat product, and attention to these is essential to successful marketing. A high fat content is traditionally associated with succulence and flavour, but concerns about healthy eating have tended to produce leaner animals. Treatment of the carcass after slaughter can have a significant effect on the tenderness or otherwise of the meat, while some defects such as ‘pale soft exudative’ pork appear to have a genetic origin. Meanwhile, supermarket Chicken Korma exemplifies an extreme case of marketing in which advertising and colour photography are more important than the meat itself. For a growing number of people, however, welfare considerations are important and it Is this aspect which could be critical in the future.