Determinants of food quality perception and their relationships to physico-chemical characteristics: an application to meat.

Abstract

A consumer-oriented approach to quality improvement can assist firms in agribusiness to sustain their profitability. A model of the food-quality perception process of consumers has been developed that can be used by firms to implement such a consumer-oriented quality strategy. An empirical study was conducted for meat to explore the relationships between the variables in the model. Data for the different phases of the model were obtained for a representative sample (n=384) of the total Dutch consumer market for foreroast (m. triceps brachee), pork rib-chop, blade steak and sirloin steak. Half of the sample was asked to evaluate the two pork cuts, while the other half participated in the evaluation of the two beef cuts. Consumers' perceptions of quality can be meaningfully related to the physico-chemical characteristics of the meat cuts. Furthermore, consumers are willing to pay more for better quality meat. [The article is based on a longer 308 page report, in Dutch, No. 29 in the series Produktschap voor Vee en Vlees, available from PUDOC, P.O. Box 4, 6700 AA Wageningen, Netherlands]. (Abstract retrieved from CAB Abstracts by CABI’s permission)