Beef meat quality, consumers' acceptaility and preferences of gascon breed. A trans-pyrenean study

In a trans-Pyrenean context, a multidisciplinary approach involving three scientific disciplines was used in order to study beef meat quality, consumers? acceptability and preferences of the Gascon breed. Firstly, two commercial categories produced on the Southern side of the Pyrenees (young Gascon bulls: YGB, and Gascon bull: GB) and one commercial category produced on the Northern side of the Pyrenees (Gascon cull cows: GCC); were evaluated objectively for their carcass traits and meat quality. The commercial category GCC (produced on Northern side of the Pyrenees) was characterized by carcasses with moderate conformation and an important fat cover, while both commercial categories produced on the Southern side of the Pyrenees (YGB, and GB) were characterized by carcases with good conformation and a moderate fat cover. There were slight differences in the instrumental evaluation of the longissimus lumborum muscle of the three commercial categories in terms of pH, colour and texture, and relevant differences in terms of fatty acid composition. Secondly, the hedonic acceptability of the Northern and Southern consumers towards the three types of meat was also studied. Cluster analysis showed that there was a substantial market for all the Gascon commercial categories, in each side of the Pyrenees. Four segments of consumers with different acceptability patterns were identified on the Southern side while only two segments were detected on the Northern side. And finally, the ways in which Northern and Southern Pyrenean consumers evaluate the importance of the intrinsic and extrinsic beef attributes was investigated. The estimation of the Error Components (ECM) mixed logit showed clear differences in stated consumers? preferences across the different regions of the Pyrenees. Branding strategies were more successful on the Southern side than on the Northern side and the regional origin claim had a positive attraction in all the regions. Overall positive impact on choice probabilities was related to the explicit recognition of the Gascon breed. In general, consumers shared an overall dislike towards high marbling.