Meat quality refers to intrinsic attributes critical for the suitability of the meat for eating, processing, and storage including retail display. The main attributes of interest are safety, nutritional value, sensorial properties, lipid composition, oxidative stability, and consistency.

In the last years, the meat market has undergone changes that require high standards of quality, so aspects related to environmental sustainability and animal welfare have become critical in meat production. In addition, there is growing awareness of the link between diet and health and this is reflected in the demand for more information and for products which are healthy and of consistently high quality. Therefore, meat quality and safety are becoming dynamic and challenging concerns which require the generation of new information and of continuous reevaluation of existing knowledge for meeting market’s demands by assuring high quality standards and prevention of recognized risks to human health.

In this special issue, we invite front-line researchers and authors to submit original research and review articles on exploring strategies for improving meat quality and safety.

Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

• Muscle biology, biochemistry, and meat quality
• Welfare related to meat production quality
• Meat consumption and human health
• Microbiology and chemical hazards in meat
• Meat contamination and meat safety
• Meat and sustainability