CONSUMER SELECTION OF STEAKS AS INFLUENCED BY INFORMATION AND PRICE-INDEX

Consumer selection of sirloin steaks was influenced by their eating qu ality, their nominal price and labelling. Without knowledge of the eat ing quality, higher priced steaks, of similar appearance and intrinsic qualities to lower priced steaks, were preferred by about one third o f consumers. The proportion increased when the steaks were labelled wi th the qualities: 'Charolais and Tender' and slightly when labelled 'T ender' and only marginally when labelled 'Charolais'. After tasting th e steaks, most consumers chose the most tender, even when more expensi ve. Re-inforcing their assessments of tenderness with the quality labe ls, further increased the proportion of tender, high-priced steaks cho sen. Knowledge of the eating quality of steaks was therefore more impo rtant than price which was more important than quality labels in deter mining choice of steaks. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights res erved