Viande bovine, habitudes alimentaires et évolution de la filière

The aim of this paper is to discuss some of the factors involved in the evolution of food habits in connection with beef meat. For some authors, the consumers express their needs on the market and the firms manufacture the products which meet these requirements. For others, the firms manufacture the products according to their own aims, then offer them to the consumers. The author of this paper suggests that the evolution of food habits in connection with beef meat results from a permanent confrontation between the meat industry and the consumers. The changes that are occuring in the beef meat industry (FVB) are first described shortly and the development of an «industrial» pole with its particular aims and constraints is pointed out. The consumer's attitude towards beef meat and the evolution of the consumption model to which this product belongs are then discussed. Three examples are discussed : intensive beef systems, prepackaged meat and frozen minced meat from which is concluded that the transformation of food habits as to beef meat results both from the new profitability conditions of meat processing firms in the industrial pole and the new trends in food consumption which, in their turn, are related to the changes in the social conditions of consumption