Meat quality is a complex concept which can be divided into intrinsic quality traits (which are the characteristics of the product itself) and extrinsic quality traits (animal welfare and health, environmental impacts, profitability and workload of the production system, and product image and price). Modelling methods have been developed to aggregate different quality traits (for instance, the Meat Standard Australia System aggregates tenderness, flavour, juiciness and overall liking), and thus to help improving simultaneously different meat quality aspects. Concerning environmental issues, research demonstrated that greenhouse gases emission, risk of eutrophication and energy consumption were lowest with a diet based on concentrate, hay and maize silage, respectively. Thus, each feeding system had its own advantages and disadvantages. However, other studies identified win-win strategies. Thus, the most economically efficient farms were those with the lowest carbon footprint, presenting a high variability in both parameters. Similarly, animals that were less stressed at slaughter (lower heart rates) were those producing tenderer meat. Supplying simultaneously linseed and antioxidants in the animal diet increased polyunsaturated fatty acid content in beef while providing protection against peroxidation thus ensuring stable colour traits. To sustain beef production, future studies need to use multicriteria approaches combining indices related to sensory and nutritional quality, social and environmental expectations and economic efficiency to help identifying the best compromises and to optimise strategies. Such research needs, in addition, to conduct studies at different levels (tissue, animal and system levels).