The impact of variations in flavour compounds on meat acceptability: a comparison of Japanese and New Zealand consumers

Abstract

Sheepmeat consumption is uncommon in many Asian countries, whose consumers often complain about the unacceptability of the sheepmeat odour/flavour. Volatile branched chain fatty acids (BCFAs), present in all fatty tissue, have been implicated as the cause of such flavours, as has skatole, which originates from pastoral diets. To determine the relative importance of these compounds to the acceptability of sheepmeat for the Japanese consumer, cooked lean beef samples containing added BCFAs and skatole at three levels (none, low, high), in factorial combinations, were rated for liking by consumers in Japan and New Zealand, and by a trained descriptive analysis panel in terms of aftertaste, barnyard odour and flavour, grassy/pastoral odour and flavour, milky odour and flavour, sheepmeat odour and flavour, sour odour and flavour, and sweet odour and flavour. The consumer and analytical data were analysed using internal preference mapping, which gave a two-dimensional solution. The most important preference dimension was clearly related to the presence of BCFAs, high levels of which were also associated with typical barnyard/milky/sour/sheepmeat flavours. Consumer preference scores were clustered around those products containing the zero level of BCFAs. The presence of different levels of skatole, and the associated grassy and sweet flavours, was less important in explaining variation in consumer responses. ANOVA on the consumer data also confirmed the influence of BCFAs on liking, particularly for the Japanese consumers.