We are happy to share that the beef carcass assessment for each production system is now complete! The International Meat Research 3G Foundation gathered grading data on almost 600 beef carcases from the 11 different production systems within 5 different countries (France, Italy, Spain, Switzerland and the UK).

The accredited chiller assessors collected data comprising diverse carcass traits which help determine the eating quality of beef. Information such as marbling (intramuscular fat), animal maturity, rib fat depth and pH scores have a considerable impact on the eating experience of a piece of beef for the European cattle population.

Added in a predictive model, these data allow the algorithm to generate sensory quality scores of individual cuts adjusted for different cooking methods. These predictive scores from 0 to 100 communicated live at a meat processing company level, enable meat sorting for different production lines, brands and customer expectations. An overall eating quality score (Index score) of the animal is also produced by weighting the eating quality scores of the different muscles of a carcass. This score would also be communicated to the farmers involved in the INTAQT project for better informed decisions.

The assessed traits on the carcass combined with the index score could improve various on-farm decisions covering genetic, feeding system and environment action levers when communicated back to farmers.

We will now analyse the descriptive carcass grading dataset for each production system to better understand the INTAQT cattle population. A subset of this data will include sensory analyses with untrained consumers, which will allow us to be more precise in the prediction scores for INTAQT animals across European states.

Stay posted on the eating quality prediction results by production systems within France, Italy, Spain, Switzerland and the UK.