At the point of purchase, consumers often use extrinsic cues such as color, marbling, leanness, packaging, and price to determine which meat product(s) to buy

The current study was designed to broaden the understanding of the attributes impacting the sensory properties of beef when consumed. Using a survey of consumers from three different geographical regions in the United States (US), we determined the impacts of three attributes on overall satisfaction in several different ways. The two main statistical methods used were an Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) model and the Conditional Logit model. Perhaps the most important finding of this study was that flavor was the largest contributor to consumer satisfaction. This finding was consistent throughout all the models. In the base model, flavor represented 59% of the satisfaction rating. Additionally, results indicated domestic beef was preferred over Australian beef by US consumers. Another important finding of the study was the impact of the demographic variables of age, income, and gender on satisfaction. The older group generally placed more emphasis on tenderness, while younger people preferred juicier beef. Males were more responsive than females for all attributes, especially tenderness. Those with higher income were more responsive to tenderness for all quality levels, but the lower income group was more responsive to juiciness. Overall, flavor had the largest impact on consumers’ satisfaction level in comparison to tenderness or juiciness.

Along with animal production factors, it is important to understand whether demographic factors influence untrained consumer perceptions of eating quality. This study examined the impact of demographic factors and sheepmeat consumption preferences on eating quality scores of American, Australian and Chinese untrained consumers. M. longissimus lumborum (LL) and m. semimembranosus (SM) were grilled according to sheep Meat Standards Australia protocols and evaluated by 2160 consumers for tenderness, juiciness, flavour and overall liking. Linear mixed effects models were used to analyse the impact of demographic factors and sheepmeat consumption habits on eating quality scores. Consumer age, gender, number of adults in a household and income had the strongest effect on sensory scores (P ≤ 0.05), although, the impact was often different across countries. Frequency of lamb consumption had an impact on sensory scores of American, Australian and Chinese consumers but larger sample sizes in some underrepresented subclasses for Australian and Chinese consumers are needed. Results suggest it is important to balance sensory panels for demographic factors of age, gender, number of adults and income to ensure sensory preferences are accurately represented for these particular populations.

Beef steers (n = 1,914) were assigned to 1 of 3 β-adrenergic agonist (βAA) supplementation treatments—zilpaterol hydrochloride (ZH; 8.3 mg/kg of DM for 20 d with 3-d withdrawal), ractopamine hydrochloride (RH; 308 mg·head^-1·d^-1 for 28 d), or no βAA (CON)—to determine the effects on consumer eating quality. Strip loins (n = 1,101; CON = 400, RH = 355, and ZH = 346) were obtained and fabricated into 2.5-cm-thick steaks for proximate, Warner-Bratzler shear force (WBSF), slice shear force (SSF), and consumer analyses; steaks were aged until 14 or 21 d postmortem. Fat and moisture contents were not affected by βAA supplementation (P > 0.05), but strip steaks from steers fed ZH had more protein (P < 0.01) than those from steers fed CON or RH, which were similar. An interaction between βAA and aging was observed (P < 0.01) for WBSF but not SSF. Within steaks aged 14 d, ZH steaks required the most force to shear, RH steaks were intermediate, and CON steaks had the lowest WBSF values; however, RH steaks had a stronger response to aging than CON or ZH steaks, resulting in the lowest WBSF values at 21 d. Slice shear force values were greater (P < 0.01) in steaks from steers fed ZH than in steaks from steers fed CON or RH, which did not differ. Following shear force analyses, steaks within 2 SD of each treatment mean for WBSF were selected randomly for consumer assessment of eating quality. Consumer testing (n = 400; 200/postmortem aging period) was arranged in a 3 × 3 factorial representing 3 quality grades (Select, Low Choice, and Premium Choice) and 3 treatments (ZH, RH, and CON). In steaks aged 14 d, βAA supplementation affected (P < 0.01) tenderness, flavor, and overall liking and tenderness acceptability, resulting in lower consumer scores for ZH than CON and RH; however, juiciness, flavor, and overall acceptability were similar (P > 0.05). In steaks aged 21 d, feeding βAA influenced (P < 0.01) only tenderness and juiciness scores. Despite these differences, βAA did not affect (P > 0.05) acceptability. Quality grade impacted (P < 0.01) all traits and acceptability in steaks aged 14 and 21 d. In 14-d steaks, Premium Choice typically was scored higher than Low Choice or Select; however, consumers rated 21-d Low Choice and Premium Choice similarly—both receiving greater scores than Select. Consumers detected several differences in eating quality at 14 d because of βAA supplementation. Increasing aging from 14 to 21 d mitigated differences in shear force and tenderness scores because of feeding ZH, so that tenderness and overall acceptability were similar between ZH, RH, and CON. Copyright © 2014. American Society of Animal Science .

Sides of the 40 selected carcasses were alternately assigned to both conventional chilling and cold boning (CB) or hot boning (HB). Fabrication of CB sides took place after overnight chilling (20 h postmortem) and subsequent carcass grading, while fabrication of HB sides occurred on the day of slaughter within 60 min of exsanguination. Five muscles were removed, including the longissimus lumborum (LL), longissimus thoracis (LT), psoas major (PM), gluteus medius (GM), and semimembranosus (SM) for consumer evaluation, compositional analysis, and sarcomere length determination. Cold boning muscles had longer (P < 0.05) sarcomere lengths compared to HB muscles, expect for the GM and SM. Chilling treatment and postmortem aging (7, 21, or 35 d postmortem) had an impact on eating quality, but these results varied by muscle. Cold shortening could be responsible for the differences in sarcomere length and ultimately differences in tenderness between HB and CB muscles. Based on consumer evaluations, HB is not recommended for LT or PM due to the reduction (P ≤ 0.02) of tenderness and overall liking scores for these subprimals; however, HB and early removal of muscles like the SM benefited (P < 0.01) from an eating quality standpoint for all palatability traits, and was neutral (P ≥ 0.21) for tenderness, juiciness, flavor, and overall liking of the LL and GM. Postmortem aging did not affect (P ≥ 0.07) eating quality of the GM and PM, but improved (P < 0.01) tenderness of LT and SM, as well as the tenderness, juiciness, flavor liking, and overall liking of the LL. Copyright © 2017. American Meat Science Association .