Overview of Meat Standards Australia (MSA) and Cuts Based Grading Scheme
R POLKINGHORNE1，J M THOMPSON2，J F HOCQUETTE3，D W PETHICK4
1.Australia Marrinya Agricultural Enterprises, Victoria 3875, Australia; 2.Cooperative Research Center for Beef Genetic Technologies, University of New England, NSW 2351, Australia; 3. French National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA),Clermont-Ferrand 63122, France; 4.Murdoch University, Perth 6150, Australia
摘要澳大利亚肉类标准（meat standards Australia，MSA）是一个肉类全面质量管理系统，旨在为消费者提供一个肉类食用品质的准确描述。MSA已经通过对消费者进行大规模的品尝实验，确定了牛肉供应链中影响牛肉可口性的生产、屠宰、加工和价值以及各个生产环节的关键控制点（critical control points，CCPs）评分。这些关键控制点评分通过两种方式管理牛肉的可口性。首先，屠宰加工领域的关键控制点一直作为胴体评分的强制性标准；其次，其他生产和加工领域的关键点控制评分被合并到一个模型当中，用来预测不同个体肌肉和烹饪技巧的可口性。MSA模型可以用来支持新的营销创新。已经有充分的证据表明，消费者愿意为优质牛肉付出高价。目前已出现几个零售的例子采用MSA可口性评分来给牛肉定价。这样胴体价值的计算方法即为每块零售肉质量乘以不同质量评分的价格，并按照零售价的比例支付牛肉生产者。该系统可以用不同的胴体性状相关的经济权重来计算。由于等级是基于持续的质量规模，生产者在这个系统中的质量和产量方面即便小有增加，也会获得相应的经济回报。MSA系统已经支撑了一个新的和创新的营销系统，该系统的定价是透明的，可以帮助生产者对肉品的质量和产量的调整作出明智的决定。MSA系统不仅在澳大利亚有效地用于预测牛肉的可口性，而且在其他国家也都证明了其应用的有效性。在欧洲启动的ProSafeBeef项目也表明，欧洲也可用类似MSA的系统进行肉类的分级。
Abstract：Meat Standards Australia (MSA) is a Total Quality Management System aimed at delivering an accurate description of beef eating quality to the consumer. MSA has identified Critical Control Points (CCPs) from the production, pre-slaughter, processing and value adding sectors of the beef supply chain that impact on palatability using large-scale consumer testing. These CCPs have been used to manage beef palatability in two ways. Firstly, CCPs from the pre-slaughter and processing sectors have been used as mandatory criteria for carcasses to be graded. Secondly, other CCPs from the production and processing sectors have been incorporated into a model to predict palatability for individual muscles and cooking techniques.The MSA model can be used to underpin new marketing innovations. There is now good evidence that consumers will pay more for better quality beef. There are several retail examples where pricing is based on the MSA palatability score. This allows the value of the carcass to be calculated by summing the weights of the retail cuts multiplied by the price paid for the different quality grades. Producers are then paid on a proportion of retail value. This system allows the economic weights associated with the different carcass traits to be calculated. As the grades are based on a continuous quality scale, producers in this system are rewarded for small increments in quality and yield traits. The use of MSA in this fashion has underpinned a new and innovative marketing system where the pricing is transparent and allows producers to make informed decisions to modify both quality and yield traits. The MSA system proved to be effective in predicting beef palatability not only in Australia but also in many other countries. In Europe, results of the ProSafeBeef project indicate that it would be possible to manage a grading system in Europe similar to the MSA system.
R POLKINGHORNE，J M THOMPSON，J F HOCQUETTE，D W PETHICK. 澳大利亚肉类标准和分级体系[J]. 肉类研究, 2015, 29(2): 43-48.
R POLKINGHORNE，J M THOMPSON，J F HOCQUETTE，D W PETHICK. Overview of Meat Standards Australia (MSA) and Cuts Based Grading Scheme. Meat Research, 2015, 29(2): 43-48.
