ORIGINAL ARTICLE Analysis of the factors creating consumer attributes of roasted beef steaks Dominika GUZEK, 1 Dominika GLA ˛BSKA, 2 Krystyna GUTKOWSKA, 3 Jerzy WIERZBICKI, 3,4 Alicja WOZ ´ NIAK 1,4 and Agnieszka WIERZBICKA 1 1 Division of Engineering in Nutrition, Departments of 2 Dietetics and 3 Organization and Consumption Economics, Faculty of Human Nutrition and Consumer Sciences, Warsaw University of Life Sciences (SGGW-WULS), and 4 Polish Beef Association, Warsaw, Poland ABSTRACT The aim of the study was to analyze the factors creating consumer attributes of roasted beef steaks of various animals. Eight cuts from 30 carcasses (characterized by various types of animal, conformation and fat class, rib fat thickness, ossification score) were selected. Samples were prepared using the roasting method and consumers rated the tenderness, juiciness, flavor, overall acceptability (rated in a 100-point scale), and satisfaction (rated from 2 to 5) for analyzed samples. No influence of type of animal, fat class, conformation class or ossification score on the results of consumer analysis was observed. For all analyzed factors, the influence of cut on consumer analysis was observed (the highest values of all consumer attributes were observed for tenderloin - for juiciness significantly higher than for other cuts, for tenderness, flavor and MQ4 comparable only with rump (RMP231), while for overall acceptability and satisfaction – with both rump cuts). For rib fat thickness consumer attributes of roasted beef meat were not linear, but the influence was observed – the highest values of consumer attributes were observed for 13 mm rib fat thickness. Key words: beef, consumer analysis, cut, quality score, roast. INTRODUCTION In Poland, similar to the Western Europe, a decrease in beef meat consumption has been observed (Van Wezemael et al. 2010). This decline in consumption reflects consumer concerns about beef meat safety (resulting from bovine spongiform encephalopathy – BSE incidents), as well as about animal welfare and environmental protection (Daniel et al. 2011). The lifestyle changes associated with increased concern about diet improvement to prevent diet- related diseases, has also impacted on changes in beef consumption (Resurreccion 2003). At the same time, households are nowadays having less time to spend preparing meals, so they choose easy methods of thermal treatment, as well as they often eat out or purchase foods already prepared (Bastian 1996). All these changes may lead to potential changes in consumer beef preferences. Much research states that perception of food quality, including meat, changes over the years (Mannion et al. 2000; Grunert & Valli 2001), so there is constant need to examine consum- ers’ preferences (Behrends et al. 2005). Therefore, the meat market must all the time develop new beef prod- ucts, as well as new beef production and marketing strategies, for example trying to implement new cutting methods to obtain new cuts from beef meat, characterized by features accepted by consumers. Proper applying of the methods of thermal treat- ment also plays an important role in creating the desir- ability of various cuts to achieve consumer satisfaction (Behrends et al. 2005). However, as Lorenzen et al. (2003) reported, there are difficulties in predicting preparation techniques and the preferences of con- sumers from laboratory procedures (using trained sensory panels or instrumental methods), so in order to achieve better understanding of consumers’ prepa- ration of beef meat cuts and their preferences, con- sumer tests are needed. Correspondence: Dominika Guzek, Faculty of Human Nutri- tion and Consumer Sciences, Warsaw University of Life Sci- ences, 02-787 Warsaw, Poland. (Email: dominika_guzek@ sggw.pl) Received 19 November 2013; accepted for publication 11 June 2014. Animal Science Journal (2014) ••, ••–•• doi: 10.1111/asj.12278 © 2014 Japanese Society of Animal Science