Consumer acceptability of Honduran and United States beef from different
production and processing system
1
Gomez ,
1,
Ph.D
C. M. Moreno SOWER Scholar, A. R.
K. S. Spivey
T. G. O’Quinn
1
1
J. C. Brooks Ph.D and M. F. Miller Ph.D
2
Ph.D ,
1Department
of Animal and Food Sciences, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX 79409
2Department of Animal Science and Industry, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66506
RESULTS
INTRODUCTION
§  The United States is the most important producer (20%) of beef in
the world (USDA, 2014).
§  Grass-fed beef has imported to USA is typically lower-valued and
destined to ground beef (USDA, 2012).
§  The lack of technology in Central America induces on losses in the
different stages of processing live animal to meat (CATIE, 1994).
§  Most of the feeding systems in USA are grain-finished in feedlots
(Xue et al., 2010).
§  The quality characteristics of grass-fed are different from grain-fed in
terms of marbling, color, texture, tenderness, juiciness and flavor
(Xue et al., 2010).
§  Enhancing meat products can replace the flavor and moisture loss
resulting from raising leaner animals (AMI, 2010).
OBJECTIVE
§  The objective of this study was to evaluate the palatability
differences between U.S. and Honduras sourced beef strip loin
steaks and determine if enhancing Honduran treatments could
improve eating quality.
Table 1. Comparison of U.S Top Choice, U.S Select quality grade and Honduran dual purpose, grain and
sugar cane fed meat strip loins in tenderness, juiciness, flavor and overall liking traits.
Trait
Top Select Honduran Enhanced Honduran Enhanced Honduran Enhanced SEM
Choice
Grain
Grain
Dual
Dual
Sugar
Sugarcane
Purpose Purpose
cane
Tenderness 5.56b 4.98c
4.34d
6.37a
2.69f
3.26ba
3.51e
4.39d
0.18
Juiciness
4.95b 4.23cd
3.88ed
5.60a
3.09g
3.55ef
3.31gf
4.39d
0.17
b
c
d
a
f
e
ef
c
Flavor
4.86
4.46
4.06
6.05
3.18
3.63
3.31
4.50
0.17
Overall
5.02b 4.56c
4.10d
6.06a
2.84f
3.41e
3.29e
4.42cd
0.17
a-f: within a row, least square means without a common superscript differ (P<0.05).
1: Extremely (tough, dry, dislike) – 8: Extremely (tender, juicy, like)
!
Table 2. Comparison of U.S Top Choice, U.S Select quality grade and Honduran dual purpose, grain and sugar cane fed meat strip
loins in tenderness, juiciness, flavor and overall liking traits.
Trait
Top Select
Choice
Honduran
Grain
Enhanced
Grain
Honduran
Dual
Purpose
b
bc
c
a
e
Tenderness Acceptability 81.82 74.31
66.21
94.95
28.77
Juiciness Acceptability
77.27b 60.55cd 56.22de
86.24a
37.44g
Flavor Acceptability
70.91b 64.68bc 61.29c
89.45a
37.90e
b
bc
bcd
a
e
Overall Acceptability
68.64 67.89
62.21
79.36
37.90
a-g: within a row, least square means without a common superscript differ (P<0.05)
Enhanced
Dual
Purpose
d
41.10
48.40ef
50.00d
d
56.42
Honduran
Sugar
cane
d
43.12
41.01fg
40.09e
e
45.62
Enhanced
Sugarcane
c
67.12
68.49c
68.04bc
b
61.64
SEM
0.03
0.03
0.03
0.03
!
METHODS
Willingness to pay
6
U.S Dollars
§  U.S beef consumers (n = 240) were recruited from Lubbock, TX and
surrounding areas.
§  U.S sourced strip loins from grain-finished cattle were selected to
equally represent: USDA Select quality grade (SE) (n = 10) and Top
Choice [ (TC) (upper 2/3 USDA Choice) ] (n = 10).
§  Strip loins from Honduras included dual-purpose cattle (DP), grainfed (GF), sugar-cane (SC), enhanced (12%) dual purpose (EDP),
enhanced grain-fed (EGF) and enhanced sugar-cane (ESC) (n = 10).
Strip loins were collected from three different packing plants in
Honduras.
§  U.S and Honduran samples were vacuum packed and aged 0-4°C
for 21 days.
§  Sub-primals were fabricated into 2.5 cm thick steaks and frozen
(-20ºC)
§  Steaks were thawed for 24 h at 2-4ºC prior to consumer evaluation
and were cooked on clamshell grills to a well-done (77ºC) degree of
doneness.
§  Each steak was portioned into eight 1cm3 cubes and served warm to
panelists.
§  Each sample was evaluated on an 8-point hedonic scale for the traits
of tenderness, flavor, juiciness and overall liking; also each trait was
classified as acceptable or unacceptable for each trait.
§  Willingness to pay for each sample was rated in U.S. dollars $0, $3,
$6 and $10 per pound.
§  Data for sensory attributes were analyzed using the GLIMMIX
procedure of SAS as a completely randomized design with an alpha
level of 0.05.
7
a
b
5
4
c
c
c
3
d
d
EDP
SC
2
e
1
0
EGF
TC
SE
ESC GF
Treatment
DP
Figure 1. Willingness to pay rating in U.S. $ for U.S. Top Choice, Select quality grade,
Honduran dual purpose, sugarcane and grain fed strip loins samples. Means with different
letter are significantly different (P < 0.05)
CONCLUSION
Honduran enhanced grain finished strip loin samples were ranked greater
than U.S treatments and Honduran strip loin samples for all palatability
traits showing that enhancement is functional for obtaining similar and
greater palatability traits to U.S treatments.
REFERENCES
CATIE: Tropical Agricultural Center for Research and Education. 1994. Animal Agriculture and Natural Resources in Central America: Strategies for
Sustainability. 327p.
U.S. Department of Agriculture. 2014. Animal Production. Available: http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usda/usdahome?navid=ANIMAL_PRODUCTION
U.S. Department of Agriculture. 2012. Cattle and Beef. Available: http://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/animal-products/cattle-beef/trade.aspx
Xue, Hong., D. Mainville., W. You and R. Nayga. 2010. Consumer preferences and willingness to pay for grass-fed beef: Empirical evidence from instore experiments. Food Quality and Preference 21: 857–866
AMI: American Meat Institute. 2010. Meat matters: Consumer’s guide to Enhanced meats. Available on: www.meatami.com