Consumers prefer tender pork with fried meat flavour

Lene Meinert (1,2), Margit D. Aaslyng (1)
1) Danish Meat Research Institute, Maglegaardsvej 2, DK-4000 Roskilde,  masdanishmeat.dk
2) University of Copenhagen, Faculty of Life Sciences, Department of Food Science, Sensory Science, Rolighedsvej 30, DK-1958 Frederiksberg C,  leldanishmeat.dk

Previous studies have shown that Danish consumers prefer tender pork with fried flavour. However, there are some geographic differences, as consumers in the province (Holstebro) prefer tender meat compared to consumers in a Copenhagen suburb (Roskilde), who prefer meat with intense fried flavour. Will it be possible to design gourmet pork preferred by both group of consumers?

In this study, three types of gourmet pork (loins) were tested by Danish consumers, half from the Holstebro area and half from the Roskilde area. The three types were a pure bred Duroc with a carcass weight of 97 kg, and a standard slaughter pig with a carcass weight of 82 kg and 96 kg, respectively. All loins were aged for 6 days. Both loins from each pig were divided into a roast including the fat layer and 6 chops excluding the fat layer. One loin was used for sensory analysis while the other was divided between the consumers.

The consumers each received three pork chops - one from each type of pig. The consumers cooked the chops at home, divided them into two halves and had two family members evaluate the chops (a total of 270 consumers). The purebred Duroc was the most preferred type of pig followed by the heavy slaughter pig. No geographical difference was found reflecting the sensory profiling, in which the Duroc was both the most tender and the one with the most intense fried flavour.

The roasts were distributed the same way as the chops but only to consumers around Roskilde. Twenty-six families participated and at least four consumers in each family evaluated the roasts (160 consumers in total). The consumers did not prefer one type to the others; this result was supported by the sensory profile, where only small differences were found between the three types.