Consumer preference, behaviour and perception about lamb meat in China

Abstract

A questionnaire including 31 questions was conducted in thirty-one provinces of China's thirty-four provinces. A total of 7212 questionnaires were received in the research and 3775 valid questionnaires were used in the final data analysis. Around 86.0% of the respondents from the selected valid questionnaires liked eating lamb meat. About 66.7% of the respondents from the selected valid questionnaires preferred to use fresh lamb meat for cooking. Stewing was the most popular cooking method for lamb meat consumption in China. Almost 70.0% of the respondents from the selected valid questionnaires preferred to consume local lamb meat rather than imported lamb meat. Food safety, lamb breed and meat origin were the top three factors concerned when the respondents purchase lamb meat. >65.0% of the respondents from the selected valid questionnaires preferred to purchase traceable lamb meat. In conclusion, the development of technologies to maintain fresh lamb meat quality and traceable lamb meat products are required in China.