Characterisation of
Beef Palatability for
Korean and Australian
Consumers
John Thompson, Rod Polkinghorne, Alan Gee
Jong-Moon Lee, InHo Hwang and Kyungnam Kim
Background
MSA is a carcass grading scheme which
uses a predictive model to describe the
palatability of beef
The MSA scheme is underpinned by
consumer taste panel results
There is limited information on the
influence of demographic factors on
consumer scores for beef
– Demographic effects on Sydney consumers
– City Vs Country consumers
– Japanese Vs Australian consumers
Background
Previous studies suggest that Korean
consumers place more emphasis on
taste and less on tenderness than
consumers in western societies.
The question:
Whether Australian and Korean
consumers have the same goal posts in
terms of meat quality, given the large
geographical and cultural differences?
Project Outline
Co-operative Project between Korea
and Australia
Korean
– National Livestock Research Institute,
RDA staff at Suwon
Australian
– Meat and Livestock Australia, Meat
Standards Australia and Beef CRC
Aims
Overall objective
To examine sensory characteristics of
Korean and Australian consumers.
More specifically
To determine if Korean and Australian
consumers differ in the way they score
palatability of beef
The importance of demographic and
design effects (cooking, treatment,
muscle etc) effects on sensory responses
from Korean and Australian consumers
Experimental Design
Korea Australia
18 cattle 18 cattle
Samples
Hang (TS/AT)
3 muscles (Strip, Outside, Blade
2 cook (Grill/Korean BBQ)
720 Korean 360 Australian
Consumers Consumers
Samples
Korean Consumers Australian Consumers
Hanwoo Australian Australian
carcasses carcasses carcasses
TS AT TS AT TS AT
Blade Blade Blade Blade Blade Blade
Topside Topside Topside Topside Topside Topside
Striploin Striploin Striploin Striploin Striploin Striploin
Grill Grill Grill Grill Grill Grill
Korean Korean Korean Korean Korean Korean
BBQ BBQ BBQ BBQ BBQ BBQ
216 samples 216 samples 216 samples
Carcasses
The carcasses
Trait Australian Korean
Cattle Cattle
Carcass wt (kg) 386 371
Fat depth 12rib (mm) 15.7 8.8
Ossification score 161 205
Marbling score
AUSMeat 1.3 3.0
US marbling 362 592
pH ultimate 5.45 5.46
Korean - BBQ
Grills
Sensory Score Sheet
Tenderness
____________________________________
Not Tender Very Tender
Juiciness
___________________________________
Not Juicy Very Juicy
Liking of flavour
____________________________________
Dislike Extremely Like Extremely
Overall Liking
____________________________________
Dislike Extremely Like Extremely
Sensory Score Sheet
Sensory Scores
Australian Korean
Consumers Consumers
Grill
Tenderness 60 55
Juiciness 65 56
Flavour 64 57
Overall 64 56
Korean BBQ
Tenderness 65 63
Juiciness 67 62
Flavour 66 62
Overall 66 62
How did consumers rate the
beef?
Korean GRL samples
Australian consumers/Australian Beef
0.5
Korean consumers/Australian Beef
0.4
Korean consumers/Korean beef
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
2 3 4 5
Grade
How did consumers rate the
beef?
Korean BBQ samples
Australian consumers/Australian Beef
0.5
Korean consumers/Australian Beef
0.4
Korean consumers/Korean beef
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
2 3 4 5
Grade
How MSA Creates A Single
Palatability Score
Tenderness X 0.4
+
Juiciness X 0.1
+ MSA score
Flavour X 0.2
+
Overall Liking X 0.3
Accuracy of predicting grade
from sensory scores
Consumer Group
Korean Australian
Grill 61% 66%
BBQ 59% 63%
MSA Grades Set by Test Results
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No Grade 3* 4* 5*
Grade Cut-offs
Australian Korean
2/3 3/4 4/5 2/3 3/4 4/5
Grill 43 64 81 48 66 78
Korean 45 66 81 53 69 81
BBQ
Grade Boundaries - Grills
Korean Consumers
30 40 50 60 70 80
Australian
Consumers
Grade Boundaries – Korean BBQ
Korean Consumers
30 40 50 60 70 80
Australian
Consumers
Treatment effects on palatability
Grills (MQ4)
Consumer Blade Striploin Topside
AT TS AT TS AT TS
Australian/ 59 62 70 74 53 56
Angus
Korean/ 56 56 61 68 47 54
Angus
Treatment effects on palatability
Korean BBQ (MQ4)
Consumer Blade Striploin Topside
AT TS AT TS AT TS
Australian/ 66 65 69 75 55 67
Angus
Korean/ 65 63 66 71 53 64
Angus
Conclusions
Korean consumers are more
discriminating at the lower
quality grades
The effects of hang, cook
and cut on palatability were
similar for Australian and
Korean consumers
Implications
To Australia
– The MSA model predicted
palatability for Korean
consumers
– Potential for the MSA model
to underpin an international
language for meat quality
Demographic effects on Korean
consumers
Factors tested
– Region of Korea
– Age of consumer
– Gender
– Occupation
– How often do you eat meat
– No. of adults in the household
– No. of children in the household
– How do you perceive beef
– Level of doneness you prefer
– Income bracket
Demographic effects on Korean
consumers
No demographic factors were
significant for either Grill or
Korean BBQ
Examples: GRILL MQ4
– Age effects
20-25 26-30 31-39 40-50
57 54 57 56
Gender
Male Female
56 57
Implications
To Korea
– The demographics of the Korean
consumers did not impact on
beef palatability
– A consumer testing protocol for
beef palatability to be used in
Korea
– The MSA model provides an
opportunity to accurately predict
palatability for Korean
consumers