H2020 MEAQUAS Project: Automated and objective characterization of the properties of ground meat for the valorization of high-quality processed meat.

Ensuring the quality of chicken meat produced in the EU An EU-funded project has developed technology to assess the quality of chicken meat trimmings, potentially increasing the competitiveness of the EU processed meat market. Mechanically deboned chicken meat must be labeled as "mechanically deboned" under EU regulations. However, this label lowers the price of the meat, making the sector less competitive. The EU-funded MEAQUAS project aimed to boost the competitiveness of EU-produced chicken meat with innovative tools to assess the quality of mechanically deboned meat.

This will make it possible to identify high-quality mechanically deboned meat produced in the EU and compare it with lower-quality mechanically deboned meat, which is often imported from outside the EU. “MEAQUAS aims to become the new industry standard for the quality of mechanically deboned meat, boosting the competitiveness of the EU meat industry, which comprises around 25,000 companies engaged in the production of meat products,” says Poul Erik Damkjær, MEAQUAS project coordinator. Project scientists have developed a new method to automatically analyze and grade meat using novel staining markers that highlight muscle structures. The software uses image processing algorithms to quantify the degree of meat degradation. MEAQUAS technology quantifies the loss of structural integrity in chicken meat, a key indicator of meat quality and a way to demonstrate that mechanically deboned meat is of the same quality as hand-removed meat.

MEAQUAS hopes that regulatory bodies will define criteria for different meat qualities using the results of the project's measurement technology. Ultimately, quality control will allow high-quality mechanically deboned meat to be labeled simply as "chicken meat," improving its market value. Whole Chickens to Chicken Parts A few decades ago, chicken was widely sold as a whole chicken. However, beginning in the 1990s, chicken parts began to be sold separately as thighs, breasts, and wings. After the bird is separated, small parts of the chicken, known as trimmings, remain, which can be used for ground meat products.

These parts are made of muscle, which is high-quality meat. However, the meat from the trimmings is usually separated using a machine to rub the meat off the bones. “During the 1980s, so-called food experts decided that this meat could only be of poor quality, as it was mechanically extracted,” explains Damkjær. “In fact, they started a false campaign that made consumers believe that whole chickens were being processed in a mincing machine, giving the impression that the mechanically extracted meat contained bones, skin, feather remains, giblets, intestines, etc.”, he adds. As a result, mechanically extracted meat gained a bad reputation and began to be rejected by consumers.

Due to consumer concerns, new EU rules were enacted requiring products containing mechanically removed chicken to be labeled as mechanically deboned meat (MDM), while those containing hand-removed chicken trimmings could simply be labeled as chicken meat. Today, mechanically deboned chicken is valued at approximately €0.60–€0.90 per kilogram, while hand-removed boneless trimmings are worth €1.60–€2.80 per kilogram, as they can be labeled as “meat.” If mechanically processed products could be labeled to reflect their quality, the meat could be sold for a higher price, benefiting the meat industry.

The project focused on chicken meat, but testing the technology on different types of meat (pork and turkey) proved successful. With some adjustments, the staining techniques developed by MEAQUAS can be adapted to most animal species, which could prove enormously beneficial to the EU slaughter industry.