Agricultural News
Just in Time for Grilling Season, the FooDS Survey May 2017 Edition Studies Ground Beef Consumers
Tue, 16 May 2017 12:41:53 CDT
Yesterday, Dr. Jayson Lusk of Oklahoma State University released the results from the May 2017 edition of the Food Demand Survey (FooDS). Some highlights from the regular tracking portion of the survey include an increase in consumers' willingness-to-pay for the "premium" cuts from each meat species, and exactly the opposite for the lesser-valued cuts like ground beef, wings, and deli ham. Willingness-to-pay for non-meat items declined significantly. Compared to last month, consumers increased expenditures on food at home but reduced expenditures on food away from home. And, fewer people declared vegetarian status or indicated suffering from a food borne illness this month than has been the case for more than a year.
Several new ad hoc questions were added to the survey this month, focusing in particular this time on how consumers buy and cook ground beef.
Approximately two-thirds of the participants who said they eat ground beef patties, stated they determine doneness by visual observation. Next most common, selected by about 18% of respondents, was determining doneness by length of cooking time. Only about 13.5% said they used a meat thermometer to determine doneness.
The majority of participants, about 69%, stated they prefer the internal color of ground beef patties to be brown. About 26% of participants stated pink as their preferred cooked internal color. Only 5% of participants stated they would want a red center in their ground beef patties. Less than 1% stated they would want another color.
The average temperature stated by participants was 162 degrees Fahrenheit; remarkably close to the actual USDA recommendation of 160F. Thirty one percent stated a temperature less than 160 and 54.5% stated a temperature higher than 160. Even providing a five-degree margin of error, 28% stated a temperature less than 155 and 37% stated a temperature greater than 165. Thus, 65% of respondents gave an answer that was at least 5 degrees higher or lower than the USDA recommendation.
Learn more about this month's edition of the FooDS survey, conducted by Dr. Jayson Lusk of OSU, by clicking here to review the actual report. To read more of Lusk's personal remarks on the results, visit his blog here.
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