Study shows consumers find grass-fed beef acceptable
Posted: Jul 04, 2008
High feed-grain prices and the growing interest in "natural" foods have spurred both consumers and farmers to consider grass-fed beef, and a recent study done by Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences researchers may reinforce this trend.
University Park, Pa. -- High feed-grain prices and the growing interest
in "natural" foods have spurred both consumers and farmers to consider
grass-fed beef, and a recent study done by Penn State College of
Agricultural Sciences researchers may reinforce this trend.
According to John Comerford, associate professor of dairy and animal
science, the study showed that most consumers find the taste and
tenderness of grass-fed beef acceptable in blind taste tests. He
recommends that producers look for ways to interest more potential
customers in grass-fed beef.
"There are also some important human health benefits related to
components of grass-finished beef," said Comerford, who oversees the
University's beef research and extension programs. "While there is no
difference in the cholesterol content of grass-and grain-finished beef,
and the limited amount of conjugated linoleic acid in cooked steaks is
too small to do much for human health, there is still an advantage in
the increased omega-3 fat content in grass-fed beef."
Emily Steinberg, who recently completed her master's degree in the
Department of Dairy and Animal Science, conducted consumer evaluations
of cooked grass-fed beef steaks and analyzed production issues for
farmers. Her work suggests that some of the preconceived notions held
by farmers about the physical type of the cattle and the length of the
grazing season needed for high-quality grass-fed beef may not be true.
"The results of the study showed that most consumer evaluations of the
cooked meat were not influenced by frame sizes of the cattle, weight at
harvest, range of grazing period from 120-180 days, and final fat
composition of the carcass," Comerford explained. "However, all of the
cattle must have plenty of high-quality forage to consume daily plus be
harvested at 18 months of age or less. None of the production practices
or consumer values studied were related to the final fatty acid
profiles or cholesterol content of the steaks.”
Comerford notes that these results give grass-fed beef producers
tremendous flexibility in the kind of cattle they feed and the way they
market their cattle. "Not surprisingly, we found finishing productive,
healthy cattle on good pastures and stored forages for at least 120
days is far more important to consumer acceptance of the product than
cattle's frame size or how fat the animals are.
"In fact, we found cattle that had the fattest final carcasses actually
had lower scores from the consumer panels because of the influence of
fat on beef flavor," Comerford said. "Further research will attempt to
reduce the inconsistency of consumer scores for many traits of the meat
by post-harvest interventions such as marinades and carcass aging."
