EFFICACY AND ACCEPTABILITY OF VARIOUS RETAIL PACKAGING METHODS FOR MEAT AT RETAIL

• Sponsoring Institution: National Institute of Food and Agriculture
• Project Status: COMPLETE
• Funding Source: HATCH
• Reporting Frequency: Annual
• Accession No.: 0229294
• Project Start Date: Oct 1, 2012
• Project End Date: Sep 30, 2017
• Program Code: [(N/A)]- (N/A)

Recipient Organization
OKLAHOMA STATE UNIVERSITY
(N/A)
STILLWATER,OK 74078

Performing Department
Animal Science

Non Technical Summary
The United States beef industry of the 80?s has recognized that no single definition can describe all consumers, but rather there are segments of consumers, each with unique attitudes and lifestyles (Yankelovich et al., 1985). Also looking at how the tray color can have influence on the actual meat its self has not been studied. Savell and others (1989) stated, ?A successful marketing approach delivers products that satisfy specific demands for specific segments. In the past the beef industry has not been concerned enough with marketing to spend time, effort and money necessary to determine the size and scope of consumer needs. However, with apparent demand for beef decreasing in recent years, the beef industry is now focusing its attention on what consumers want and how it can be produced and marketed.? Retail color and package type greatly impact consumer decisions and should be evaluated to extend case-life and market products.

Animal Health Component

(N/A)

Research Effort Categories

Basic

(N/A)

Applied

(N/A)

Developmental

(N/A)

Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)	Subject of Investigation (SOI)	Field of Science (FOS)	Percent
503	3320	3090	50%
503	3520	3090	50%

Knowledge Area
503 - Quality Maintenance in Storing and Marketing Food Products;

Subject Of Investigation
3320 - Meat, beef cattle; 3520 - Meat, swine;

Field Of Science
3090 - Sensory science (human senses);

Keywords

beef

pork

retail color

consumer

Goals / Objectives
Experiment 1 a. Compare the case life and consumer acceptability of retail packages utilizing black, yellow or white trays when placed in traditional PVC overwrap and modified atmosphere packaging systems. Experiment 2 a. Compare the case life and consumer acceptability of retail packages utilizing black, yellow, pink or white trays when placed in traditional PVC overwrap and modified atmosphere packaging systems. Experiment 3 a. Compare traditional overwrap, modified atmosphere, and vacuum packing types of strip loin steaks using different lighting. b. Determine consumer acceptability and preferences of strip loin steaks packaged using traditional overwrap, modified atmosphere or vacuum packages. Experiment 4 c. Compare traditional overwrap, modified atmosphere, and vacuum packing types of pork chops using different lighting. d. Determine consumer acceptability and preferences of pork chops packaged using traditional overwrap, modified atmosphere or vacuum packages.

Project Methods
Beef and pork will be purchased from a commercial processing facility and transported to OSU Food Agriculture Processing Center. Cuts will be aged and then fabricated into 1.25 cm steaks and assigned to one of six treatment groups (tray color by package system). Steaks from each cut will be alternated accordingly to ensure all tray color and package systems have steaks represented from all locations of cut and two steaks from each cut assigned to all treatments. Package types will be traditional overwrap (TO) and modified atmosphere (MAP). Trays will either be white, yellow, or black. Steaks assigned to MAP will be packaged and held in dark storage for 7 d at 2C. All other steaks will be vacuum packaged for 7 d at 2C. After 7 d, steaks assigned to TO will be removed from vacuum packaged and overwrapped. All steaks will be placed in simulated retail case conditions under traditional lighting conditions for color evaluation. Each steak will be subjectively evaluated for color attributes at 12-h intervals during retail display. Subjective Color Evaluation. Color will be subjectively evaluated by a four person trained panel of Oklahoma State University personnel; panelists will be trained using Munsell color tiles and will be required to receive a passing score before participating on a color panel. Evaluators will assign scores to each steak for muscle color, overall appearance, and surface discoloration at each evaluation time. Muscle color will be characterized on an 8-point scale (8 = extremely bright cherry red; 1 = extremely dark red for TO and MAP and 8 = extremely bright purple-red; 1 = extremely dark purple) as outlined in the Guidelines for Meat Color Evaluation (AMSA, 1991). Scores for overall appearance (8 = extremely desirable; 1 = extremely undesirable) and surface discoloration (7 = 100%; 1 = no discoloration) will also be assigned according to AMSA (1991) guidelines. Steaks will be evaluated until at least 80% of the TO and MAP steaks have been assigned a mean overall appearance score of 3 (moderately undesirable) or lower. Consumer Preferences. Every other day (not to exceed 5 times/consumer) during display, a consumer panel (n = 10 consumers/day/package type) will be conducted. Consumers will be asked basic demographic information and general beef purchase questions when initially selected. Consumers will score each pair of steaks (one white tray vs one black tray vs one yellow tray of the same cut) by indicating their preference to purchase one vs the other. Statistical Analysis. Means representing color attributes will be computed, and analysis of variance with the fixed effect of tray color, package type, and their interaction will be conducted using the mixed procedure of SAS, with panelist being included as the random variable. In the analysis, when supported by a significant F test (P < 0.05), least squares means will be calculated and mean separation will be performed using the pairwise t-test procedure in SAS.

Progress 10/01/12 to 09/30/17

Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience for this project year are retailers and consumers of fresh beef and pork. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Undergraduate and graduate students were trained in evaluation of consumer survey instruments. These students developed skills to understand consumer responses and then report findings to target audiences. Two to four undergraduate students each year (12 total undergraduates) worked on experiments of the project. Students assisted with data collection and entry to gain a better understanding of scientific research. Also, two to three graduate students participated in various experiments of the this project. Along with data collection, these students assisted with design of projects and analysis of results. They also presented findings at meetings and symposia. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Results have been disseminated through presentations and extension reports to retailers and meat purveyors. The presentations have shown how specific findings can be used to make decisions for packaging beef and pork and what packages are most appealing to consumers, as well as most frequently purchased. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Consumers prefer to purchase beef packaged in black trays with traditional overwrap film and pork packaged in white trays with traditional overwrap film. Consumers in various retail market settings consistently chose beef steaks packaged in black trays over those packaged in other tray colors. When evaluating roasts or ground beef consumers were less concerned about tray color. Consumers of beef steaks in the Midwest were less familiar with vacuum packaged steaks so chose those less frequently. Pork consumers most often chose chops packaged in white trays over all other colors. Pork purchasers seemed to be more familiar with vacuum packaged products so were willing to purchase vacuum packaged pork roasts and chops more often. The major activities completed were determining package preference and tray color for beef steaks and pork chops. Significant results were that consumers do not chose cuts in modified atmosphere packages unless no other alternative is provided (experiment 1 and 2). Consumers prefer steaks packaged in black trays with traditional overwrap (PVC) film. In all retail settings, consumers purchased more steaks packaged in black trays than all other packaging types, and they most frequently chose traditional overwrap. Research findings have been presented at regional and national meetings. Retailers have utilized information to make packaging decisions and continued to survey consumers. Conversely, consumers preferred pork chops packaged in white trays regardless of package type (experiment 4). Vacuum packages were acceptable to consumers purchasing pork but not beef steaks. Additional education is needed to help consumers understand the value and safety of vacuum packaging and differences in meat color in vacuum packaged bags. Results have been and will continued to be dissimenated to small and large retailers to help better utilize package types and color. These data should provide needed information for marketing. Fact sheets and educational materials have been developed to provide informaiton to consumers to better understand packaging types and how meat safety and storage life is impacted by package. Historically, consumers have purchased meat in overwrapped packages but with education could see the benefits of vacuum packaged products and possibly change purchasing habits. During experiment 3, lighting observations were difficult to interpret because of variations in case temperature. Data from this experiment can be valuable to evaluate package types under different lighting. However since initiation of this project, new LED lights have become commercially available to retailers for improved product display.

Publications

Progress 10/01/15 to 09/30/16

Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience for this project during the reporting period was consumers and purchasers of beef and pork at retail. To better understand this groups preferences and purchase habits of beef and pork it is important to evaluate why or why not they chose a specific product packaged in a variety of forms and various retail outlets - major retailers to small local markets. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Nothing Reported How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Nothing Reported What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?During the next reporting period, information will be generated for retailers to describe consumers preferences and help them understand why consumers might choose one package color or type over another. Educational materials will be developed to help consumers better understand package types.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Major impacts of goals of this project were to determine consumer acceptability and preferences. It was determined that consumers prefer different colors and types of packages depending on cut and if it is beef or pork. Most consumers prefer higher value beef cutslike strip loin steaksto be packaged in traditional overwrap packages in black trays. Consumers do not have strong preferences for package type or color when purchasing pork. This information can be very valuable to retailers at all levels to package products to better attract consumers. To date few studies have evaluated consumers preferences about package type; thus, retailers can take advantage of data generated when making packaging and marketing decisions. Data will be further evaluated to try to determine why consumers have certain preferences. Consumers do not readily prefer vacuum packaged beef steaks even though they will last much longer in storage. Thus, education of consumers to accept other types of packaging would be beneficial.

Publications

Progress 10/01/14 to 09/30/15

Outputs
Target Audience:Consumers of beef and pork who primarily purchase meat products at retail for home cooking. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Work with retailers and packers to utilize information to maximize profitability with marketing. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Nothing Reported What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Summarize data and disseminate information. We believe data generated will produce beneficial results for effective marketing strategies of meat packaging type and color. Currently industry has no data to make decisions on package color.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Experiment 1 - Beef Compare the case life and consumer acceptability of retail packages utilizing black, yellow or white trays when placed in traditional PVC overwrap and modified atmosphere packaging systems. Determined that consumers prefer traditional packaging and color preferences depends on beef cut. Data currently being analyzed but trends show consumers prefer traditional packagaging type for most beef cuts. Interesting consumers prefer black trays for higher valued middle meats and white trays for lower value cuts. Further analysis will give us a better understanding of data and reports will be generated to aid industry in decision making of packaging color. Experiment 2 - Pork Compare the case life and consumer acceptability of retail packages utilizing black, yellow, pink or white trays when placed in traditional PVC overwrap and modified atmosphere packaging systems. Consumers have no definted preferences for pork. Initial anaylsis of data doesn't show a clear trend for consumers purchasing pork. Additional data points need to be generated for better understanding of this objective.

Publications

Progress 10/01/13 to 09/30/14

Outputs
Target Audience: Meat industry retail and consumer sectors were reached Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Training undergraduate and graduate students has been provided by this project. Data collection and statistical analysis procedures. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Nothing Reported What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Plan to publish scienfitic articles as well as present results as meetings to dissimenate results.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Determine that consumers prefer beef to be packaged in black or white packages depending on cut. One graduate student completed project evaluating these goals and determined that pork consumers prefer MAP packages (generally). Additional education needed to educate consumers on the value of vacuum packaging.

Publications

Progress 10/01/12 to 09/30/13

Outputs
Target Audience: Target audience for project results would be retail outlets (all sizes), case-ready facilities, and consumers Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Nothing Reported How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Provided to retailers as requested in final report form What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Evaluate additional consumers and other cuts

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Determine the which cuts are most ideal in each package color - Consumers typically chose black trays for tenderloin steaks and white steaks for all other trays.

Publications