Advances in the Game Production Chain: A Sustainable Approach to Safety, Quality, and Consumer Perception of Game Meat and Products

Dear Colleagues,

Consumers' interest in eating game meat obtained from sustainable hunting is increasing worldwide, particularly in territories where hunting is a relevant and resilient practice. The peculiar nutritional and sensory characteristics, as well as the sustainability of the production and the avoidance of chemicals and veterinary drugs, confer to this production a high added value meeting the needs of the modern consumer's approach to food consumption. The game meat production chain is under hunters’ control in the wild environment, and the lack of specific and harmonized guidelines could lead to the incorrect implementation of hygienic procedures, potentially threatening consumers' health or affecting the products’ shelf life. Numerous game species, from those widely diffused to those less known, are attracting attention for their possible exploitation in the food production chain; therefore, further investigation is needed to define their physicochemical, nutritional, sensory, and hygienic characteristics. The scientific interest as well as the productivity related to game meat have grown remarkably, and therefore, a continuation of the successful Special Issue of Foods on “Game Meat and Game Meat Products: Safety, Quality and Consumer Perception” is proposed. In this new Special Issue of Foods, “Advances in Game Production Chain: A Sustainable Approach to Safety, Quality and Consumer Perception of Game Meat and Products”, we encourage the submission of manuscripts focused on all aspects of the game meat production chain. These can include the validation of the best procedures to be adopted during hunting and slaughtering, the definition of sanitary aspects of the animals that could affect meat safety, the evaluation of the transport and handling of carcasses, the assessment of production process’ impact on meat quality and safety, the application of green strategies to improve meat and products’ hygiene and safety, as well as the assessment of microbiological, physicochemical, nutritional, and sensory characteristics of all kinds of game meat and meat products.

We invite researchers to contribute original and unpublished research and review articles on this topic.

Dr. Raffaella Branciari
Prof. Dr. David Ranucci
Dr. Rossana Roila
Guest Editors

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