Document Type
Thesis - University Access Only
Award Date
2004
Degree Name
Master of Science (MS)
Department / School
Animal Science
First Advisor
D.M. Wulf
Abstract
Research was conducted in two phases to determine the optimum ribeye size for retail consumers. In phase I, 50 USDA Choice beef carcass sides were selected at a commercial packing plant into five different categories based on ribeye size: A: 61 to 68 cm2 , B: 70 to 78 cm2 , C: 80 to 90 cm2 , D: 92 to 103 cm2 and E: 105 to 119 cm2 (IO sides per category). Ribeye rolls were retrieved from all carcass sides. Steaks (2.5-cm thick; 14 per ribeye roll) were cut as needed, and transported in groups of 35 steaks (7 per ribeye size category) to a retail grocery store in Brookings, SD, where they were placed into a designated section of the retail meat case. Steaks were tallied every four hours on weekdays and every two hours on weekend days and holidays to determine the number of monitoring periods required to sell each steak. When the number of steaks in the retail case fell below 15, a new group of 35 steaks was added and any steaks remaining from the group two prior to the current group were removed (pulled). Time in case and percentage of steaks pulled did not differ among ribeye size categories (P > 0.05). Linear regression indicated that larger ribeyes sold faster (P = 0.06). Steaks from rib locations 6 and 7 spent more time in the case than steaks from rib locations 8 through 12 (P < 0.05). Steaks from the 7 th rib location were more likely to be pulled than steaks from the 8th through 12th rib locations (P < 0.05). The steak weights of the smaller ribeye size categories exhibited less variation from the caudal to the cranial end of the ribeye roll when compared to steaks from larger ribeye size categories (P < 0.05). In phase II, 15 USDA Choice ribeye rolls were selected from a commercial packing plant to represent two ribeye size categories, C (n=5) and E (n= I 0), and cut into 2.5-cm-thick steaks. Treatment A VG consisted of steaks from size category C; treatment LARGE consisted of steaks from size category E; and treatment HALF consisted of steaks, cut in half, from size category E. Four display steaks represented each treatment group in each of five random nth price auction. Seventy-five people were recruited from the Brookings, SD, area to participate in the auctions to determine their willingness to pay for the three different types of ribeye steak. Consumers were willing to pay a premium of $1.50/kg for LARGE ribeye steaks over AVG ribeye steaks (P < 0.05). Consumers discounted HALF ribeye steaks by $1.0 I/kg compared to A VG ribeye steaks (P < 0.05). In conclusion, no optimum ribeye size existed for beef retail consumers; however, there was a trend towards greater demand for larger ribeye sizes over smaller ribeye sizes.
Library of Congress Subject Headings
Meat cuts.
Beef.
Consumers' preferences.
Publisher
South Dakota State University
Recommended Citation
Sweeter, Kurtis K., "Determining the Optimum Ribeye Size for Beef Retail Consumers" (2004). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 1109.
https://openprairie.sdstate.edu/etd2/1109
Rights Statement
