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