Ground Emu as a Replacement for Ground Turkey and Ground Beef

Abstract

LEARNING OUTCOME: To describe the consumer acceptability of ground emu as a low fat substitute for ground turkey and ground beef. A serving (3.5 oz.) of ground turkey or beef can have up to 13 g. or 18 g. of fat, respectively. To provide lower fat food choices for Americans, producers are developing or offering new products. Emu, a red meat, provides a lower fat alternative (3 g. fat/serving) to beef and turkey. The consumer acceptability of ground emu (GE)(1 g. fat/4 oz.) compared to very lean ground beef (GB)(8 g. fat/4 oz.) and ground turkey breast (GT)(1.5 g. fat/4 oz.) was evaluated. Untrained volunteers (N=43) used a hedonic scale to rate each coded, unseasoned, cooked (160° F) meat patty for tenderness, flavor, texture, aftertaste, and overall acceptability. Cooking losses (3 replications) were also measured. Descriptive statistics, one-way ANOVA, and post-hoc analyses were computed using SPSS for Windows (Version 7.0, Chicago, IL). P<0.05 was considered significant. Tenderness, texture, and overall acceptability were significantly different (p<0.005) among all of the samples (GB>GT>GE). The flavor and aftertaste of GB was more acceptable (p<0.005) than that of GT and GE, which were not significantly different from each other. Cooking losses of GE and GT were significantly less than those of GB (p<0.05). This study showed that GB had the best overall acceptability followed by GT and GE. Other sensory attributes agreed with this trend. Results may be attributed to the unfamiliar taste of the emu and lack of seasonings in the samples. The higher rating of tenderness for beef may be associated with the higher fat content. Future evaluation of emu using different preparation methods may allow the consumer to assess the meat in a situation more conducive to everyday life