New Publications

Two recent books have been published as a series by Burleigh Dodds Science Publishing, covering sustainable poultry production of poultry meat. Volume 2 (edited by Professor Todd Applegate, University of Georgia, USA) is entitled ‘Achieving sustainable production of poultry meat, Volume 2: Breeding and nutrition’.

Key features:

Reviews advances in poultry genetics and their application in marker assisted breeding;

Summarises recent research on poultry digestion and nutritional requirements;

Discusses current studies on optimising the role of dietary components such as enzymes, minerals and probiotics.

This book will be a standard reference for poultry and food scientists in universities, government and other research centres and companies involved in poultry production. It is accompanied by two further volumes which review safety, quality and sustainability as well as poultry health and welfare.

Endorsement:

‘The proposed list of authors is impressive and this will certainly be an excellent publication in poultry science.’ Professor Mike Lilburn, Ohio State University, USA.

Volume 3 (edited by Professor Todd Applegate, University of Georgia, USA) is entitled ‘Achieving sustainable production of poultry meat, Volume 3: Health and welfare’.

Key features:

Reviews latest research on bacterial and viral diseases affecting poultry as well as other threats such as parasites;

Discusses current research on disease management such as competitive exclusion treatments and other methods to boost immune function;

Summarises advances in understanding poultry behaviour and improving flock welfare.

This book will be a standard reference for poultry and food scientists in universities, government and other research centres and companies involved in poultry production. It is accompanied by two further volumes which review safety, quality and sustainability as well as poultry breeding and nutrition.

Endorsement:

‘Increasing food production to address the nutritional needs of an expanding world population requires a combined effort from experts in genetics, nutrition, health, and welfare. The well-known editor has assembled world leaders in these fields to communicate their detailed knowledge for the benefit of the research community.’ Robert L. Taylor, Jr., Ph.D., Director and Professor, Division of Animal and Nutritional Sciences, West Virginia University, USA

ISBNs for sourcing these volumes are 978-1-78676-068-5 for volume 2 and 978-1-78676-072-2 for volume 3.

Poultry Quality Evaluation, 1st Edition

Quality Attributes and Consumer Values

Editors: Massimiliano Petracci and Cecile Berri

Hardcover ISBN: 9780081007631

Imprint: Woodhead Publishing

Poultry, and especially chicken meat, will overtake in very few years pork as the most popular meat being consumed in the World. The main reasons for this popularity are ascribable to its being the cheapest and most accessible meat in the world, as well as to the absence of any sort of cultural barriers that on the contrary affect pork and beef meat. Healthier profile and suitability for being used for manufacturing attractive, convenient, easy to use processed products make poultry as the preferred meat also in modern and multicultural societies where people tend to live and work in urban areas, taking most meals away from home and spending less and less time on home meal preparation, together with increasing culinary ignorance. Finally, in a situation in which sustainability implications associated with meat consumption cannot be ignored, poultry industry is generally recognized to be much kinder to the environment than that of most every other kind of meat.

These advances have been made possible thanks to the progress in genetics, nutrition and feeding, physiology, farming management, veterinary medicine, automation and so on. However, as said before, society perception towards animal production systems and way to consume meat and meat products are changing very rapidly, therefore the challenge for poultry industry is not to lose sight that ultimate goal of the entire poultry chain is to continue to produce products that are in line with the expectations of society and consumers. That said, it is amazing that worldwide few research work dedicated to the quality of poultry meat unlike what happens in the mammalian meat sector, where there are well-recognized scientific societies, specialized journals and congresses.

For this reason, it is therefore particularly felt by students, professors, scientists, technicians, industry people and professionals, the need of updated and advanced books on the quality of poultry meat. But at the same time it is not easy to identify key researchers who are able to handle with the necessary skills and experience more classical topics, but also frontier ones.

Therefore, Poultry Quality Evaluation: Quality Attributes and Consumer Values provides a new reference source that covers these aspects with the same scientific authority as texts on traditional poultry meat quality values.

The book's first section explores new developments in our understanding of how muscle structure affects the eating qualities of cooked meat. The second section highlights new techniques for measuring, predicting, and producing poultry meat quality and how these new techniques help us minimize variability in eating quality and/or maximize value. The final section identifies the current qualities of consumer and public perceptions, including what is sustainable, ethical, desirable, and healthy in poultry production and consumption.