Abstract
The aim of the PHASE Division's research on animal products is to understand and predict the consequences of rearing conditions on the development of these products, particularly the quantity as well as the sensorial, nutritional, technological and health qualities of meat products. The ambition is to find compromises allowing to high value products under production conditions that meet the multi-performance objectives of the systems, whilst anticipating that the production conditions themselves will become a criterion of product quality. The scientific priorities concerning animal products are focused on the mechanisms of development and the functioning of the tissues or organs involved in production (notably the muscle) as illustrated in examples 1 and 2 of this article, on the development of tools for predicting the qualities of animal products especially in connection with farming practices (examples 3 and 4) and the identification of the most robust production biomarkers in a variety of contexts (example 5). For livestock systems, the challenge is to define combinations of solutions in terms of resources, animals and farming practices depending on the environment, to combine productive, economic and environmental performances (example 6) and optimization of the welfare and health of animals in different environments.