The effects of chop quality, cooking method, and degree of doneness on consumer acceptability of boneless pork chops

Honegger, Lauren Taylor

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Description

Title

The effects of chop quality, cooking method, and degree of doneness on consumer acceptability of boneless pork chops

Author(s)

Honegger, Lauren Taylor

Issue Date

2019-07-03

Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)

Dilger, Anna C

Committee Member(s)

• Boler, Dustin D
• McKeith, Floyd K

Department of Study

Animal Sciences

Discipline

Animal Sciences

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

M.S.

Degree Level

Thesis

Keyword(s)

• pork
• consumer preference
• degree of doneness
• cooking method
• marbling
• color
• ultimate pH
• cooked color
• grill
• sous-vide

Abstract

Pork production practices such as genetics and nutrition have continued to change due to increased local and global demand for pork, as well as a contrast in international consumer expectations of pork quality. While many of these changes occur on the live pig, it is necessary to ensure that such changes are not having adverse effects on the overall quality of products. Consumers make the final estimation of quality therefore, adverse effects on pork quality may translate into a poor eating experience, ultimately decreasing consumer purchase intent. Pork sensory quality (tenderness, juiciness, and flavor) is influenced by several factors that can occur before, during, and after the harvest process. For the following experiments, influencing factors were comprised of chop visual quality (visual color and marbling), ultimate pH of the chops, cooking method, and degree of doneness. These influencing factors were evaluated to determine their impact on consumer acceptability of boneless pork loin chops. Consumers (396 total) were served chops in 1 of 3 experiments. Chops in experiment 1 were classified as either “choice” or “standard”. Chops classified as “choice” had a NPPC visual color score ≥ 3 and a visual marbling score ≥ 2. Chops were classified as “standard” when NPPC scores did not meet the qualifications for “choice”. Chops in experiment 1 were then cooked to either 63°C or 71°C. Chops in experiment 2 were categorized as high pH (5.88-6.23) or low pH (5.36-5.56) and cooked to 63°C, 71°C or 82°C. Chops for experiment 1 and 2 were cooked with an immersion cooker sous-vide device. Chops in experiment 3 were cooked to either 63°C or 71°C using either an open-hearth grill or an immersion cooker sous-vide device. During experiments 1 and 2, consumers were seated in a sensory room under red light to mask color differences. During experiment 3, consumers were served samples under white light to allow for cooked color appraisal. Consumers in all three experiments used a 9-point Likert-type score system where scores 1 through 3 were considered not tender, not juicy, not flavorful, or unacceptable. Scores 4 through 6 were consider neutral for tenderness, juiciness, flavor, and overall acceptability. Scores 7 through 9 were considered tender, juicy, flavorful, and acceptable. Data were organized as a percentage of responses and analyzed using the GLIMMIX procedure of SAS for all three experiments. Additionally, a pre- and post-survey were given in experiment 3 to determine if consumer’s perceptions of degree of doneness changed after completing the sensory panel. Quality grade did not affect (P ≥ 0.30) consumer ratings for any sensory trait. More (P < 0.01) consumers rated chops with a high pH (36.07%) as juicy compared with low pH chops (24.29%), but pH category did not alter (P ≥ 0.13) perceptions for tenderness, flavor, or overall acceptability. In experiments 1 and 2, a greater (P < 0.001) percentage of consumers rated chops cooked to 63°C as acceptable compared with chops cooked to 71°C. Within experiment 3, there was an interaction between cooking method and degree of doneness for both tenderness and acceptability. Consumers rated a greater percentage (P < 0.001) of chops cooked sous-vide at 63°C as tender (82.82%) and acceptable (60.34%) compared with all other cooking method/degree of doneness combinations. There were no differences (P = 0.06) in the percentage of chops rated tender when chops were cooked to 71°C using either sous-vide (33.07%) or grilled (22.42%) cooking methods. Additionally, there were no differences (P = 0.06) in the percentage of chops rated acceptable when cooked to 71°C using either sous-vide (26.35%) or grilled (28.63%) cooking methods. For juiciness, consumers rated a greater (P < 0.01) percentage of chops cooked to 63°C juicy (44.37%) than those cooked to 71°C (14.78%) but ratings did not differ between cooking methods. For flavor, consumers rated a greater (P < 0.01) percentage of chops cooked to 63°C as flavorful (34.61%) than those cooked to 71°C (24.31%). Contrary to our hypothesis, ratings as flavorful did not differ between cooking methods (P = 0.88). Even when consumers could identify cooked color, they preferred chops cooked to 63°C, and the lack of browning on chops cooked sous-vide did not compromise the eating quality. Survey results indicated that consumers acknowledged that pork could safely be cooked at a lower temperature and preferred a pork chop cooked to a lower degree of doneness after participating in the sensory panels. Overall, it was degree of doneness that had a greater impact on consumer eating experience than “quality grade” or ultimate pH.

Graduation Semester

2019-08

Type of Resource

text

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Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2019 Lauren Honegger

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