Consumer impress ions of Tender Select beef

With the recent development of technology to classify beef for tenderness, it is now possible for packers and retailers to market brands of beef known to be consistently tender. The present experiment was conducted to determi ne consumer impressions of Tender Select, a model beef brand comprised of c uts from tender U.S. Select carcasses. A telephone survey was conducted in metropolitan Denver, CO, to recruit consumers (n = 1,036) for this study. C onsumers who met minimal limits for household income, age, and beef consump tion were invited to participate in a beef shopping and usage study in a lo cal supermarket. Point-of-purchase material was developed that described Te nder Select as "the only steak guaranteed tender and lean." When shown a co py of the Tender Select concept card, 89% of participating consumers (n = 7 59) indicated that they would definitely or probably buy that product. Of t hose consumers that said they would buy the product, 35% indicated that the ir purchases of Tender Select would be in addition to their current fresh m eat: purchases. Most consumers (54.1%) indicated that if Tender Select was available at their grocery store, 1 or 2 of their next 10 purchases of beef cuts would be Tender Select. Sixty-five percent of consumers indicated tha t if a grocery store carried a line of beef cuts guaranteed to be tender, t hey would buy all of their beef at that store. Both strip loins from 104 U. S. Select beef carcasses, representing a broad range (8.7 to 43.4 kg; CV = 42%) in slice shear force (SSF) at 14 d postmortem, were used to determine the effect of SSF classification on consumer satisfaction and the correlati on among trained sensory panel descriptive attribute ratings and in-home co nsumer ratings of beef longissimus steaks. Both trained sensory panelists a nd consumers rated low-IS)SF steaks higher than the high-SSF steaks for all traits (P < 0.001). All consumer traits (like, tenderness, juiciness, flav or like, flavor amount, and overall satisfaction) were more highly correlat ed with SSF and trained sensory panel tenderness ratings than with sensory panel flavor or juiciness ratings. These data show that tenderness is the p rimary determinant of satisfaction among consumers of U.S. Select top loin steaks and that a segment of consumers would pay a premium to purchase guar anteed-tender U.S. Select steaks.