Nutritional strategies and management practices to improve poultry meat quality

• Published in: Improving poultry meat quality pp. 59 - 106
• Main Authors: Zampiga, Marco, Sirri, Federico
• Format: Book Chapter
• Language: English
• Published: Burleigh Dodds Science Publishing Limited 2023
• Edition: 1
• DOI: 10.4324/9781315808697-4

The estimated growth in world population is increasing global food demand, particularly of protein. From a historical perspective, meat has represented the main protein source for humans, contributing to biosocial well-being and sustenance (Leroy and Praet, 2015; Leroy and De Smet, 2019). Among the different types of meat, poultry meat has experienced a significant production increase in the past 50 years, and future forecasts seem to confirm that the same trend will be observed in the next decade (Windhorst, 2017). Many factors have contributed to the universal appreciation of poultry meat, including its affordability, nutritional and sensory properties, versatility and ease of preparation as well as the absence of religious limitations related to its consumption (Baldi et al., 2020). In addition, poultry meat production is considered relatively efficient and sustainable in terms of resources utilization and environmental impact, which are crucial aspects for fulfilling the increasing protein demand in an efficient and sustainable way (Zampiga et al., 2021a).