Post on 14-Feb-2018
Keith E. BelkHenry N. Zerby
Dale R. WoernerTravis W. Hoffman
Colorado State UniversityThe Ohio State University
Preferences & Complaints Associated With American Lamb Quality In Retail & Foodservice
Markets
• 1991– ASI initiated development of Quality Assurance program
• 1992-1993– National Sheep Quality Audit; W. E. Cunningham & S. B. LeValley
• 2001– Producing Consumer Products from Sheep: The Sheep Safety &
Quality Assurance Program; D. L. Roeber et al.• 2004
– Producing Consumer Products from Sheep: The Sheep Safety & Quality Assurance Program. T. W. Hoffman et al.
• 2007– National Sheep & Lamb Quality Audit; S. B. LeValley et al.
• 2009– Producing Consumer Products from Sheep: The Sheep Safety &
Quality Assurance Program; T. W. Hoffman et al.• 2010
– Online SSQA Training accessible to producers
Sheep Safety & Quality Assurance History
American Lamb Industry Roadmap: Objective 3. Conduct a Lamb Quality Audit Every Three Years There is nearly unanimous agreement in the industry that lamb
characteristics MUST be improved. Most of the data about lamb quality is anecdotal, not
quantitative. There is no robust data to document the level of meat quality
currently. The U.S. chicken, pork, and beef industries have a much more
extensive knowledge of their quality problems and what their future priorities should be.
Imported lamb has developed a strong reputation for being much more consistent than American lamb.
If the American lamb industry is going to survive, it has to know What to improve and How to improve its eating characteristics.
Source: The Hale Group, 2013
a) Personnel of sheep, retail and foodservice trade associations.
b) Personnel of Federal and State government regulatory, marketing and service agencies.
c) Personnel of the food service industry including white table cloth, family dining and quick serve restaurants – to obtain as much information as is provided regarding problems, improvements, opportunities and consumer demands of the sheep/lamb industry.
d) Representatives of retail supermarket and grocery companies – to obtain as much information as possible regarding problems faced as a retailer, improvements that can be made, opportunities that may exist and the consumer demands of the sheep/lamb industry.
Sheep/Lamb Industry Interviews
“What is “quality” and what quality factors drive the company’s purchasing decisions?
1) Food Safety
2) Eating Satisfaction
3) How & Where Lambs Were Raised
4) Visual Characteristics
5) Weight & Size
6) Lean, Fat, & Bone
7) Sheep Genetics
Define Lamb Quality
How is “Quality” Defined?
Most Companies, In Each Market Sector of NBQA-2011, Suggested That Industry Is Not Transparent Enough & Does Not Do A Good Job Of ‘Telling Their Story’ & Engaging The General Public In Production & Processing!
Selected attributes are evaluated with a best/worst scaling methodology.
Seven criterion are evaluated through a series of questions to quantify an objective ranking of relative importance of each quality attribute.
Best/Worst Scaling
NBQA 2011: Retailer Must-Have Before I Will Purchase
Willingness-to-PaySophisticated interview software is used to randomly formulate & select WTP values based on a company’s answers concerning the specified quality attributes (i.e., “buckets”); so questions are dynamically routed as answers are provided to each sequential question.
NBQA 2011 – Willingness to Pay
Strengths Of The U.S. Beef Industry1
Retailers Foodservice Packers Feeders
Government & Allied Industry
Food safety Product quality Premium product
Quality product;
wholesome
Safe eating experience;
demand
Productquality Food safety Taste
Taste & eating
satisfaction
Research,technology, &
innovation
Industry Image &
Promotion
Marketing program
People –they care for the animals &
land
Food safety Food safety
Consistency Supply diversity Food safety Nutrients &
healthEfficient process
1 Based on the number of times that each characteristic was mentioned as a response to the question.
Weaknesses Of The U.S. Beef Industry1
Retailers Foodservice Packers Feeders
Government & Allied Industry
Not telling our story Cost Variability
Not telling our
storyToo
fragmented
More concerned
with exportsMarketing Food safety Consumer
perceptionNot telling our story
Food safety Too fragmented
Fragmented/ Transparency
(tie)Too
fragmented
Lack of industry
education & knowledge
Resistant to change Food safety Transparency Cost Independenc
e
1 Based on the number of times that each characteristic was mentioned as a response to the question.
Potential Threats To The U.S. Beef Industry1
Retailers Foodservice Packers Feeders
Government & Allied Industry
Food safety Cost Food safety Activist groups
Activist groups
Cost Activist groups
Government regulations
Government regulations
Public perception
Shortage of supply Food safety Commodity
prices Cost Cost
Corn prices Animal disease
Activist groups Food safety
Governmental
regulations1 Based on the number of times that each characteristic was mentioned as
a response to the question.
Fresh, boneless retail lamb cuts (N = 800)
– 40 chain retail stores (20 retail packages per store; – 5 each of cuts from the leg, loin, rack and shoulder) – 10 U.S. metropolitan areas.
Retail stores will be identified based upon market share information. A minimum of 4 retail chain stores will be sampled in each metropolitan area. Will not sample club stores (e.g. Costco, Sam’s Club, etc.).
Only non-enhanced, whole-muscle lamb cuts from the leg, loin, rack and shoulder will be sampled (approximately 200 of each equally distributed across the metropolitan areas and stores within metropolitan area).
Assessment of Retail and Foodservice Lamb Attributes
Lamb product assigned an identification number
– City, retail store, month/year of purchase– e.g., Albuquerque, NM might be city ID 01, store zip code is
87108, loin chop is NAMP 1232C, purchased in June 2014 = 01871081180062011
Digital image collected– L*, a*, and b* color– Intramuscular fat percentage– Cut thickness– Price per unit weight– Total package cost– Brand and/or supplier information
Warner-Bratzler shear force
Assessment of Retail & Foodservice Lamb Attributes
Source: www.americanlamb.com