Evaluation of quality acceptance of cow’s meat in respect to certain social aspects of consumers

Abstract

The aim of the research study was to determine the attitudes of consumers towards sensory properties of beef (cow’s meat) with regard to gender, age, education and preference of beef consumption under conditions of Slovakia. Sensory properties were analysed on 199 samples of cow’s meat of various breeds and crosses. Cows were kept on the farms in different regions of Slovakia and slaughtered during 2006-2011. The samples (approx. 800 g) of musculus longissimus lumborum et thoracis between 9th to 11th ribs from the right side of the carcass were taken 24 h post mortem. Seven days after slaughter a consumer panel test for determination of sensory traits of meat was performed. The samples were sliced into 2.0 cm thick steaks and grilled for four minutes. Sensory traits (odour, taste, tenderness, juiciness) were evaluated by 5-point scale (1 - the worst, 5 - the best). The effect of gender (men - women), age (≤ 30 years; 31-50 years; ≥ 51 years), education (high-school, university) and preference of beef consumption (liking, disliking, indifferent) were determined. Overall, the sensory properties were evaluated by 612 randomly selected consumers. Men evaluated better odour, juiciness and taste in comparison with women. The difference for odour was significant (3.66 and 3.64, respectively, P<0.05). Age of consumers had significant influence on tenderness and taste of cow’s meat where both traits were assessed more positive by a group of consumers aged 31-50 years than by the older group (3.31 vs. 3.10 and 3.64 vs. 3.40). High-school educated consumers evaluated better than university educated ones for all the traits except for odour. The difference for tenderness was significant between both groups (3.38 and 3.16, respectively). Preference of beef consumption had significant impact on juiciness and taste where, paradoxically, the highest assessment was conceded by consumers disliking beef.