The importance of beef tenderness, marbling, and production methods to U.S. consumers

Consumers tasted steak samples and participated in an experimental auction to determine their willingness to pay. Samples differed in marbling, tenderness, country of origin, and aging methods. Marbling and tenderness had significant impacts on consumer satisfaction. Samples from Australia were rated lower than U.S. samples, and bids were $1.07 per pound lower than for the U.S. samples. Aging method impacted taste panel ratings and bids. Panelists' flavor rating had the largest impact on willingness to pay.http://agecon.lib.umn.edu/cgi-bin/pdf_view.pl?paperid=23795&ftype=.pd