Abstract
The South African consumer market is characterised by socio-economic and cultural diversity. Food expenditure patterns, behaviour and preferences differ significantly between the various socio-economic sub-groups. Packaging information, including red meat classification information, could be an important tangible resource used by consumers to gauge product quality. The first objective of the research reported in this paper is to investigate the red meat knowledge, usage and perceptions regarding beef and sheep meat classification and related quality parameters among South African consumers. Consumer perceptions of red meat classification were extracted from a comprehensive consumer survey among stratified representative samples of South African low-, middle- and high-income consumers (n = 165, n = 171 and n = 249). The paper also briefly reports on an in-store ‘observational’ research project that was conducted to develop an understanding of the communication of carcass classification to consumers through fresh red meat product labels at independent butchers and large retailers across South Africa (n = 60). Low-income consumers had very limited understanding and gave little attention to red meat classification. Even though middle-class and wealthy consumers also have a limited understanding of red meat classification, about half of these consumers check for a classification mark. Red meat classification was not mentioned by consumers as a major concern regarding red meat, but related aspects were important such as quality, fattiness, tenderness, juiciness, taste, freshness, smell and appearance. Purchase considerations for beef and mutton/lamb focussed largely on safety, appearance, price and eating quality. Labelling information observed at retail outlets gave very little attention to classification. There is a definite need for consumer education relating to the red meat classification system and for the development of an appropriate front-of-pack labelling system to communicate red meat classification.Keywords: Beef, high-income, knowledge, labelling information, lamb, low-income, middle-income, mutton, perceptions
Highlights
Introduction The South African Carcass ClassificationSystem classifies lamb, mutton, beef and goat carcasses based on a set of predefined characteristics mainly focusing on animal age and the fat content of the carcass
Quota sampling was applied with the sampling plan which had been designed by the research team to reflect the characteristics of the South African population in terms of LSM® segment, age category and ethnic groups (n = 165, n = 171 and n = 249 for the low-income group, middle-class group and wealthy consumer group, respectively)
In the consumer survey the respondents were asked whether they had knowledge regarding the grading/classification systems of red meat, how often they checked the grading/classification of meat and to define red meat classification if possible
Summary
The South African Carcass Classification System classifies lamb, mutton, beef and goat carcasses based on a set of predefined characteristics mainly focusing on animal age and the fat content of the carcass. Some factors are directly linked to red meat classification, such as the intrinsic quality cue ‘visible fat on meat’, the experience quality attributes ‘fattiness of meat in terms of non-visible fat’ and the intangible quality attributes of ‘animal feeding practices’ (in particular grass-fed versus grain-fed) and ‘age of animal at time of slaughter’ The latter factor was listed as intangible as most consumers may not have the expertise to judge animal age based on the visual appearance of the meat and have to rely on product information supplied in this regard. Due to the lack of relevant scientific data the first objective of the research reported in this paper was to investigate South African red meat consumer knowledge, usage and perceptions regarding beef and sheep meat classification and related quality parameters among low-, middle- and high-income consumers. The paper reports on an in-store observational research study that was conducted to develop an understanding of the communication of carcass classification to consumers through fresh red meat product labels
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