Quality and safety of animal products

Quality of food of animal origin is nowadays a predominant keyword for everyone in society, basically the consumer and the policymaker, but also the producer and the specialist of animal production. Because of an increasing diversity in the number of species involved and of products marketed fresh or processed, quality of animal products has received many definitions and understandings. We have used the recommendations edicted by the Food and Agriculture Organization on 'Quality control and requirements of food of animal origin'. The chemical, nutritional, technological, sensory, hygienic and safety aspects have been successively considered in appropriate chapters. Selected examples concerning the main factors involved in the quality of meat, milli and eggs have been extracted from the recent scientific literature. Results are given on the permanent attempts of research workers, scientists, experts and consumers' representatives to define, measure, control and assess the quality of animal products. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.