Cross‐Cultural Study of Dry‐Cured Sheep Meat Acceptability by Native and Immigrant Consumers in Spain

Abstract

AbstractIn many countries, fresh meat from cull ewes is considered to have little value. Nevertheless, other products such as dried and cured meat have high prices. Due to immigration, there is a continual shift in the population's profile, and the acceptability of local products within a specific country is not well known. For this study, 320 consumers from Europe (Spain), Asia (China), Africa (sub‐Saharan Africa) and South America (Andes) evaluated the overall acceptability of dry‐cured sheep meat “cecina.” The legs of 24 culled ewes with three different fatness levels (FL) were used. Overall acceptability indicated that the product was well accepted, with Africans providing the highest scores (P ≤ 0.01). Statistical differences between the three FL were found only in Spanish consumers who preferred Lean “cecina.” Length of residency was a significant factor only for Andeans in which a preference was observed for those living five or more years in Spain (P = 0.04). Differences depending on the frequency of lamb consumption were found in all cultural backgrounds except for Chinese consumers.Practical ApplicationsCultural background was more important than fatness level (FL) in terms of overall acceptability. Therefore, the production of dry‐cured meat from ewes would not require a previous fattening period to meet consumers’ expectations. In this sense, only Spanish consumers found differences between FL, with the leanest meat as the most appreciated. Globally, the consumer overall acceptability score of the product was high, being Africans those with the highest scores, and showing that the possibility of producing “cecina” would favor breeders, who could profit from selling meat at a higher price.