Meat Standards Australia – Sensory Testing
| Project start date: | 01 November 2015 |
| Project end date: | 30 June 2017 |
| Publication date: | 30 June 2017 |
| Project status: | Completed |
| Livestock species: | Sheep, Goat, Lamb, Grassfed cattle, Grainfed cattle |
Summary
Meat Standards Australia (MSA) is a beef and sheep meat eating quality program designed to take the guesswork out of buying and cooking Australian red meat. MSA involves all sectors of the supply chain from paddock to plate. A wide range of cattle and sheep management practices, processing systems, cuts, ageing periods and cooking methods have been researched to determine the impact each has on eating quality.
MSA Sensory Testing:
MSA has developed extremely detailed testing protocols to ensure that the scores obtained relate only to the individual consumer and the beef sample, and are not affected by random influences such as irregular thickness or cooking variation. The protocols also detail issues of sample preparation, order and method of serving. Consumers are recruited from the community to represent diverse backgrounds and areas.
Selection criteria are: 20–65 years of age, eat beef once or more per week and prefer their beef/sheep meat cooked medium. Each consumer completes a score sheet for every sample tested. This involves marking lines to score tenderness, juiciness, flavour and overall liking and ticking one of four boxes to indicate whether the sample was of unsatisfactory, good everyday, better than everyday or premium quality.
MSA Sensory testing continues to play an important role in the success of the MSA eating Quality program. MSA sensory research has examined the results of over 86,000 consumers scoring more than 603,000 beef samples and over 90,000 consumer taste testing lamb and sheep meat products. This has proven that groups of consumers have a very consistent opinion on beef & sheep eating quality. These sensory scores are used in the grading model predicts how each cut will eat.
Consumer standards are continually reassessed through the consumer taste-testing program using research product and a strict independent auditing program. By continually monitoring consumer scoring, grade standards can be adjusted over time in line with any evident change in consumer preference to maintain eating quality satisfaction.
