Surgical castration of piglets without pain relief is still common practice in many countries. Possible alternatives for surgical castration are application of pain relief or anaesthesia or production of boars (entire males) and immunocastrates. Each of these alternatives faces advantages and disadvantages which may result in different citizen attitudes and consumers acceptability. Understanding which practice is acceptable to whom and why may further stimulate implementation. Consumer (n = 3251) and stakeholder (n = 1027) attitudes towards surgical castration without pain relief, surgical castration with anaesthesia, immunocastration, and production of boars were surveyed from April to June 2020 via an online questionnaire in 16 countries (>175 respondents per country). Surgical castration without pain relief was separated from each of the alternatives due to animal welfare and showed the lowest acceptability (32%). Within the alternatives, a further partitioning between the alternatives was based on perceived quality and food safety, with an acceptance of 85% for applying anaesthesia, 71% for immunocastration, and 49% for boar production. Differences depending on professional involvement and familiarity with agriculture could be observed, mainly for the acceptance of surgical castration without anaesthesia, immunocastration, and boars. Castration with anaesthesia was highly accepted by all types of respondents.

Quality refers to the characteristics of products that meet the demands and expectations of the end users. Beef quality is a convergence between product characteristics on one hand and consumers’ experiences and demands on the other. This paper reviews the formation of consumer beef quality perception, the main factors determining beef sensory quality, and how to measure and predict beef eating quality at scientific and industrial levels. Beef quality is of paramount importance to consumers since consumer perception of quality determines the decision to purchase and repeat the purchase. Consumer perception of beef quality undergoes a multi-step process at the time of purchase and consumption in order to achieve an overall value assessment. Beef quality perception is determined by a set of quality attributes, including intrinsic (appearance, safety, technological, sensory and nutritional characteristics, convenience) and extrinsic (price, image, livestock farming systems, commercial strategy, etc.) quality traits. The beef eating qualities that are the most valued by consumers are highly variable and depend mainly on the composition and characteristics of the original muscle and the post-mortem processes involved in the conversion of muscle into meat, the mechanisms of which are summarized in this review. Furthermore, in order to guarantee good quality beef for consumers in advance, the prediction of beef quality by combining different traits in scenarios where the animal, carcass, and muscle cuts can be evaluated is also discussed in the current review.

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The aim of this study was to investigate the presence of Campylobacter spp. in poultry and poultry products available for the consumers at retail markets in Bulgaria. Samples (n = 210) of poultry carcasses and poultry products for sale at the retail market in Bulgaria were analysed for the presence of Campylobacter spp., of these 35 frozen whole carcasses, 135 chilled poultry cuts (45 wing cuts, 45 thigh cuts and 45 fillet) and 40 thermally treated (ready-to-eat) poultry products. The results obtained showed that 35.2% of the frozen poultry carcasses for sale in the markets were Campylobacter contaminated. In the chilled poultry cuts Campylobacter was isolated at the highest percentage in wing- and thigh cuts, 91.1% and 88.9%, respectively. The fillet samples were contaminated by Campylobacter in 48.9% of cases. In the chilled poultry products as well as in the frozen carcasses C. jejuni (74.8%/70.3%) was the most commonly isolated Campylobacter species, with the remainder being C. coli (25.2%/29.7%). Campylobacter spp. were not detected in the thermally treated poultry products.

The objective of this study was to establish the occurrence of Vibrio parahaemolyticus and Staphylococcus aureus in several species of sea fish and mussels (Mytilus galloprovincialis). The study included a total of 33 samples of frozen sea fish and 64 samples of fresh wild and farmed mussels purchased from the stores. V. parahaemolyticus was isolated and confirmed via PCR in 2 (6%) fish samples (Atlantic cod and Alaska pollock) and 20 (31%) mussel samples. S. aureus was also isolated and confirmed via PCR in 2 (6%) fish samples (Argentine hake and Atlantic cod). Significant differences were found in the total bacterial contamination between wild mussels (6.54 log cfu/g) and farmed mussels (6.69 log cfu/g). Total V. parahaemolyticus count did not show significant differences either between wild (4.45 log cfu/g) and farmed mussels (4.99 log cfu/g). In wild mussels the S. aureus count was found to be 4.50 log cfu/g, while in farmed mussels it was 3.14 log cfu/g. The occurrence of V. parahaemolyticus and S. aureus in fish and mussels presents a risk to the consumer’s health.