This publication contains the proceedings of a seminar 'The problems of
dark-cutting in beef' held by the Commission of the European Communities
(CEq at the Commission in Brussels on 7 and 8 October 1980. As part of
the CEC programme of coordination of agricultural research, this meeting
was organised in the framework of the beef and animal welfare activities
by Dr. D.E. Hood and Dr. P.V. Tarrant, Meat Research Department, An
Foras Taluntais, Dunsinea, Castleknock, Dublin, Ireland. The
proceedings, edited by the organisers assisted by Janssen Services, 33a,
High Street, Chislehurst, Kent, UK, provide an authoritative text-book
on this important aspect of meat technology. Reduction of pre-slaughter
stress and improvement in carcass and meat quality is becoming
increasingly important in the international meat trade. This results in
particular from growing consumer concern about the welfare of meat
animals during the pre-slaughter period and from specific meat packaging
and marketing requirements. Technical development of the beef processing
industry is dependent on a uniformly high level of meat quality in the
raw material.