Drivers of Consumer Liking for Beef, Pork, and Lamb: A Review

Abstract

Tenderness, juiciness, and flavor have been associated with consumer acceptance of beef, lamb, and pork. Drivers of consumer liking are interrelated across these species, but there are differences in consumer preferences. Animal age, animal diet, and subsequent marbling impact consumer liking across species. For beef, consumer research prior to the 1990s showed that tenderness was the main driver of liking. Consumer tenderness and juiciness liking are highly correlated. More recent research has shown that as overall tenderness improved and tenderness variation decreased, flavor has become a more important driver of beef consumer liking. Flavor is affected by consumer preparation methods, familiarity with different flavor presentations, and animal production systems. Animal diet impacts consumer perception of beef tenderness and flavor, especially when comparing forage-fed versus grain-fed beef. Flavor preferences vary across countries more so than preferences for beef based on consumer tenderness preferences and are most likely influenced by the consumption of locally produced beef and the flavor-derived type of beef traditionally consumed. Drivers of pork consumer liking have been shown to be affected by pH, color, water holding capacity, animal diet, and the presence of boar taint compounds. While tenderness and juiciness continue to be drivers of consumer liking for pork, flavor, as impacted by animal diet and the presence of boar taint compounds, continues to be a driver for consumer liking. For lamb, the flavor, as affected by diet, and animal age continue to be the main drivers of consumer liking. Lamb consumers vary across countries based on the level of consumption and preferences for flavor based on cultural effects and production practices.

The effect of gender status on the growth performance, carcass and meat quality traits of young crossbred Holstein-Friesian×Limousin cattle

“…However, more recent studies have shown that as overall tenderness improved and tenderness variation decreased, flavor has become a more important driver of beef consumer liking. In general, as long as tenderness and juiciness are at acceptable levels, flavor is the main driver of overall liking [27,28]. In the present study, beef from steers and heifers scored higher for flavor (4.86 in both cases) than beef from bulls.…”

Are Meat Quality Traits and Sensory Attributes in Favor of Slow-Growing Chickens?

“…Trained assessors typically perform objective sensory analysis and, therefore, remain the most appropriate tool to perceive and explain possible differences among treatments [ 38 ]. Consumers, however, even if they are not trained to discriminate among different food-related sensory attributes, represent the final market goal, i.e., every food product is produced to meet consumers’ demands and acceptance [ 39 ].…”

MARGRA Lamb Eating Quality and Human Health-Promoting Omega-3 Long-Chain Polyunsaturated Fatty Acid Profiles of Tattykeel Australian White Sheep: Linebreeding and Gender Effects

“…Globally, meat is regarded as one of the main sources of animal protein [ 4 , 5 ] and lamb is known to be highly nutritious and digestible [ 6 ], fortified with essential amino acids, iron, zinc, selenium, fatty acids and vitamins A, B6 and B12 [ 5 ]. Lamb also has relatively low lipid and saturated fat contents compared to meat from other ruminants [ 7 ], and its marbling, tenderness, juiciness, aroma and colour attributes have been known to influence consumer liking [ 8 ], carcass [ 9 ], meat assignment into quality grades [ 10 ], consumer food choices [ 11 ] and nutritional value [ 12 ]. It is therefore very important that sheepmeat producers guarantee the consistency of their lamb products in order to meet consumer preferences and adapt to the dynamics of purchasing decisions based on meat eating quality.…”