Welcome to the Beef
Quality
Center Website.
Over the past
few years the beef industry has worked diligently to improve the
quality of the product offered to consumers. Consumers have
told us that consistent quality, particularly tenderness, is a
critical part of their decision to purchase beef. This website
will provide
you with information about research, products, technology
and marketing changes specific
to beef quality and tenderness.
“Valuing Beef Tenderness,” a
Kansas State University study by Mintert, James et al.
Beef’s most important palatability
attribute is tenderness.
Consumers are willing to pay a premium for steaks that are guaranteed
tender.
Consumers preferred tender steaks in blind taste tests.
Providing tenderness information on the label has value to consumers.
Recent technological improvements have made it possible to have
alternative grading systems that are based on tenderness.
Younger consumers and women are more likely to pay a premium
to upgrade to a tender steak.
Consumers who were more familiar with beef quality grades (i.e.,
which grades they typically purchased) were more likely pay to
upgrade to a tender steak. Read
the entire paper…
