Quality meat from farm to fork
Meat processing and production has often been associated with unhygienic food practices that could encourage disease under certain circumstances. The EU-funded project Qualitymeat encouraged high-quality production of meat products from farm to fork in EU Associated Candidate Countries (ACCs). The concept of farm to fork would ensure quality in all stages of meat production, from slaughtering and storage conditions to processing, handling, packaging and distribution to consumers. As such, the project conducted a survey in Bulgaria, Cyprus, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia to monitor and promote top quality meat production. Its aim was also to assist researchers to embark on EU-funded projects in the field and foster a new culture in meat production across the food chain. To achieve its aims QualityMeat established a website hosting key information on project objectives, partners and services offered to companies under the EU's ambitious Sixth Framework Programme (FP6). The website also contained project events, financing information, partner search mechanisms and potential opportunities for collaboration. This entailed the development of a database that featured the profiles of researchers and companies in the meat production sector in the upcoming EU countries. The database contained over 150 institutions with research capabilities in the production of pork meat and poultry, of which over 70 showed interest in linking with the Qualitymeat project. It also listed the profiles of 190 researchers in the field. Lastly, the project hosted several brokerage events to foster partnerships and information days to encourage research in the sector. This resulted in a marked increase in partners from institutions involved in the project, promoting the production of high-quality meat in all the EU's newcomers.