Advances in understanding and optimising sheep meat eating quality and nutritional value

The quality of the product for consumers is a strong driver for ensuring market share, maintaining sales and guaranteeing sustainability of sheep meat production systems. Meat product quality is driven by eating experience and nutritional benefits. Decisions made on-farm can influence age at slaughter, carcass composition and meat nutrient composition and thereby, impact the intrinsic properties of meat that define the quality. Research has shifted to consider intrinsic attributes of meat such as the intramuscular fat content to ensure tenderness but also the fatty acid profile for nutritional quality. There is increasing research identifying alternative forage species that can be grazed by lambs to enhance not only the balance of nutrient provided to the animal to increase utilisation and nutrient capture but, to also alter the intramuscular fat content of the meat and produce a more favorable nutritional profile.