PERCEPTION OF RABBIT MEAT QUALITY AND MAJOR FACTORS INFLUENCING RABBIT CARCASS AND MEAT QUALITY

The meat quality concept is continuously changing and, nowadays, the consumer is very interested in the healthiness of meat, hedonistic quality, sensory properties, cooking easiness and swiftness, and price. During the last two decades, rabbit meat researchers have focused their interests on how to increase live performance and carcass yield. Considerable human resources have been expended to widely study the effects of various biological and zootechnical factors on carcass and meat quality. On the contrary, the effect of technological factors have been studied less intensively. Among the several variability factors considered, selection programmes, slaughter age and weight, dietary fat inclusion and source, and ante and post mortem factors were found to have great effect on rabbit carcass and meat quality. However, the role of these factors on hedonistic and sensory properties have not been thoroughly investigated. Because of major consumer concerns, these two properties are of great importance; hence research on this topic should be pursued.