BEEF CUSTOMER SATISFACTION - ROLE OF CUT, USDA QUALITY GRADE, AND CITY ON IN-HOME CONSUMER RATINGS

An in-home beef study evaluated consumer ratings from moderate-to-heav y beef users as influenced by cut (top loin, top sirloin, and top roun d steaks), USDA quality grade (Top Choice, Low Choice, High Select, an d Low Select), and city (Chicago, Houston, Philadelphia, and San Franc isco). Consumers (n = 2,212) evaluated each steak for overall like (OL IKE), tenderness (TEND), juiciness (JUIC), flavor desirability (DFLAV) , and flavor intensity (IFLAV) using 23-point hedonic scales (23 = lik e extremely, extremely tender, extremely juicy, like extremely, and an extreme amount of flavor; 1 = dislike extremely, not at all tender, n ot at all juicy, dislike extremely, and no flavor at all). A USDA grad e x cut interaction existed for OLIKE (P < .05). Consumers rated top l oin steaks highest (P < .05) in OLIKE and ranked Top Choice highest of all steaks (P < .05). Within the top loin, consumers were not (P > .0 5) able to distinguish OLIKE differences between Low Choice and High S elect or between High Select and Low Select. For OLIKE, top sirloin wa s rated intermediate (P < .05) of the three cuts, and consumers were n ot able to detect(P > .05) USDA quality grade differences. For OLIKE, top round was the lowest-rated (P < .05) cut. However, consumers prefe rred (OLIKE, P < .05) Top Choice to the other USDA grades offered. Gra de and city interacted to affect TEND, JUIC, DFLAV, and IFLAV. The cut x city interaction was significant for all palatability attributes. C ut and city affected customer satisfaction more than USDA quality grad e. Tenderness and flavor were important and equal contributors to OLIK E, r = .85 and r = .86, respectively.