Abstract:

As one of the most important meat products, beef provides abundant protein for consumers. With the rapid
development of society, people have paid more attention to meat quality and increasing consumer demands for high-quality
meat have been reported. However, the beef market system from cattle production units to packing plants is still imperfect,
resulting in the occurrence of inferior quality beef and the dominant incidence of DFD (dark, firm and dry) beef. This
article elaborates the mechanisms for the formation of DFD beef and factors that influence this process. Meanwhile, good
pre-slaughter management and available control measures are described. Taken together, this paper can offer some useful
references for the development of the beef industry in China.

Key words: DFD beef, influencing factor, pre-slaughter management