Key Findings

• Commonly used objective color measures are predictive of consumer purchasing likelihood of fresh beef steaks: a* was one of the most predictive measures, accounting for 64% of the variation in consumer purchase intent when steaks are sold at full price.
• Consumers purchasing beef at retail have high expectations related to steak color and discoloration, and even small amounts (12%) of browning on the steak surface reduced the likelihood of consumers purchasing fully priced steaks to 50%.
• Consumers expected steaks to be almost completely free of discoloration to be willing to purchase.
• When purchasing beef steaks, consumers show redness and discoloration are among the most important traits considered.

background

Meat color is commonly identified as one of the most important purchasing motivators for beef consumers. Thus, maintaining a desirable bright-red color of beef is a priority for retailers. Additionally, understanding consumer perceptions related to both redness and discoloration is critical to fully understanding of beef shelf-life and how and when consumers will elect to purchase displayed products. Previous attempts to answer this question have produced mixed results with severe limitations. A recently completed study worked to answer these questions and had consumers evaluate ground beef samples in a simulated retail display scenario. In the study, there was a 90% chance a consumer would purchase a product if it had 1.1% discoloration, but this likelihood dropped to 75% and 50% if discoloration increased to 19.5% and 37.8%, respectively. However, there is no research focusing on discolorations of steaks and impacts of redness/darkness on consumer purchasing habits. Therefore, the current study utilized the consumer-focused framework of the previous ground beef study to answer these same questions for steak cuts in order to provide retailers a greater understanding of color and discoloration-related management of steak products. 

methodology

Commercial case-ready steak packages were obtained from a commercial processor, and packages were stored in mother-bags in the absence of light until the designated day of display. The study was designed in 2 phases: Phase 1 in which the steaks evaluated by consumers (N = 200) represented a range of display days (0 – 14 days) and appeared from extremely fresh to completely discolored; and Phase 2 in which consumers (N = 176) evaluated steaks that were all of the same day of display and relatively similar in terms of discoloration and color characteristics. Steaks were all the same USDA quality grade (upper 2/3 Choice) and were packaged and stored identically prior to the simulated retail display period. For each phase, steaks were removed from their mother-bag and placed in coffin-style retail cases and displayed under fluorescent lights for the pre-planned display period in order to create differences in both steak color and discoloration. Consumers evaluated steaks for overall appearance liking and identified whether or not they would purchase the product (yes/no) if it was fully priced as well as if it was sold at a discount. Additionally, a trained sensory panel evaluated the same samples for redness, discoloration percentage, and fat color. Moreover, numerous objective color measures (L*, a*, b*, chroma, hue angle) were assessed on each sample. Logistic regression models were calculated to predict the likelihood that a consumer would purchase the steak if it was sold at full price or a discount if marketed at retail.

findings

Results showed that in both phases of the study, all objective measures evaluated were significant predictors of consumer purchase intent. The predictive models accounted for 30 – 78% of the variation in consumer purchase intent for steaks sold at full price and 27 – 72% of the variation when sold at a discount for Phase 1. In Phase 2, the models were less predictive, with models only accounting for 11 – 57% of the variation in consumer purchase likelihood in both full-priced and discounted samples. a* value and trained sensory panel discoloration scores were some of the best predictors evaluated. These models showed that only minimal discoloration has a large impact on consumer purchasing likelihood, with steaks that have 12 - 22% discoloration only having a 50% chance of being purchased at full price. Redness, assessed by both a* value and trained sensory panel redness scores, was the variable most closely associated with consumer overall appearance liking. Models from Phase 2 in which all samples were of the same day of retail display, were less predictive overall than those from Phase 1 where consumers assessed steaks varying in both discoloration amount and color traits. 

industry Implications

Overall, the objective measures evaluated in the current study were able to predict consumer willingness to purchase beef steaks during retail display. a* value and trained sensory panel discoloration scores were among the best predictors. Steaks with a marginal color discoloration exhibited only half the chance of willingness to purchase at a discounted price for consumers. These results reinforce the importance of steaks meeting consumer visual expectations at retail for consumer purchase. Inherent differences from steak-to-steak coupled with consumer expectations, make modeling consumer purchasing likelihoods a challenge, but small amounts of discoloration and undesirable redness traits drastically reduce the likelihood that consumers will purchase steaks at retail.