Pre and Post-Slaughter Factors Affecting Meat Quality: A Comprehensive Review

Abstract

Meat quality significantly impacts consumer acceptance, nutritional value, and commercial viability, and it is influenced by a complex interplay of factors occurring both before and after animal slaughter. The current review comprehensively discusses critical pre-slaughter and post-slaughter elements that shape the overall quality of meat products, outlining strategies to mitigate negative impacts and maximize product quality. Pre-slaughter factors such as animal handling and stress management profoundly influence meat attributes including tenderness, color, juiciness, and overall palatability. Improper handling can lead to increased stress responses in animals, resulting in physiological and biochemical changes detrimental to meat quality. The review emphasizes best practices in handling methods and facilities design aimed at minimizing animal stress, highlighting their roles in ensuring optimal meat characteristics. Nutritional influences prior to slaughter also play a pivotal role in determining meat quality. The review delves into how specific dietary components and feeding regimes can affect muscle composition, fat distribution, and metabolic profiles in animals, subsequently influencing tenderness, flavor, and shelf-life stability of the meat. Slaughter methods are another critical area explored in this review. The paper examines various slaughter techniques, comparing their effectiveness in preserving meat quality and ethical considerations. It further details how proper stunning and bleeding protocols can minimize animal suffering and reduce physiological stress responses, thereby enhancing meat quality. Post-slaughter factors, particularly storage conditions, strongly determine meat's shelf life, safety, andsensory properties. The review analyzes the impacts of temperature management, packaging techniques, aging processes, and preservation technologies. It underscores that careful control and optimization of these factors can prevent microbial spoilage, lipid oxidation, and protein degradation, thus preserving meat quality throughout distribution and consumption phases. The review synthesizes existing research to provide practical recommendations for producers and processors to effectively manage pre- and post-slaughter conditions. Adopting these best practices can significantly enhance meat quality, improve consumer satisfaction, and bolster industry profitability.