*3.5. Consumer Preference*

In order to accurately predict consumer behaviour and attitudes towards new food products, it is important to understand various aspects of the population including their preference, choice, desire to eat certain foods, purchase intent and frequency of consumption [76]. Population demographic characteristics are a known influential factor on the sensory acceptance of healthier, reformulated meat products [76–78]. Results from the study revealed that most people consumed meat frequently (Figure 2). The majority of the population (62.5%) consume meat on a daily basis, whilst 25% consumed meat more than three times per week and only 12.5% of the population consumed meat between 1–3 times per week. However, game meat was not frequently consumed, with the majority (44.7%) of the population indicating that they only ate it approximately four times a year, whereas 36.8% of the population attest to consuming game meat at least twice a month. Whilst level of ethnicity and education were not included in the analyses due to statistical imbalances, gender and age group influenced (*p* > 0.05) the frequency of consumption of neither domestic nor game meat. Burger [79] reported that the consumption of game meat in North America was influenced by demographic characteristics such as ethnicity, gender and household income. Other studies such as that of Hoffman [32] also reported an association between ethnicity and game meat consumption in South Africa as some population groups associated it with leanness and healthiness, as well as it having a favourable gamey flavour which was not perceived as important by others. Game meat consumption may also be influenced by the lifestyles and social activities of different populations as families that are involved in hunting are more likely to regularly consume game meat [80]. However, a recent study did not report any associations between demography and game meat consumption [33].

**Figure 1.** Principal component analysis for the sensory attributes of cabanossi made with either pork backfat (PF) or fat-tailed sheep fat (SF).

Consumers were asked to rank their preference (on a scale of 1 to 9; the higher the number the more positive their preference) for various game meat products in addition to factors that influence their purchasing decisions for game meat products. Least significant means for these rankings are shown in Table 6. In the order of preference, biltong (rating of 7.7) was the most preferred product followed by droëwors (6.9), fresh meat (6.7) and fresh/raw sausage (6.6), salami (6.3) and cabanossi (6.3). These results indicate that game meat might be more preferred if marketed as processed meat products rather than fresh meat as supported by the literature [81]. Consumers perceive fresh game meat to be difficult to prepare [32,81], probably due to limited knowledge on preparation methods, and would therefore prefer to consume it processed.

**Figure 2.** Meat consumption behaviour within the sample population.

**Table 6.** Least significant means (±SE) of the preference and factors influencing the purchase of game meat products within the sample population.


a–e Means with different superscripts between columns are significantly different.

Results from this study sugges<sup>t</sup> that biltong was the most preferred game meat product among the sample population. This could be attributed to the fact that biltong has a strong linkage to the South African tradition as a meat preservation strategy that has long been known [35]. Furthermore, in South Africa, biltong is produced by small artisanal (e.g., households and butcheries) to large commercial manufactures [35], and thus most consumers who participated in the study could have developed a preference for this product at some point during their upbringing. Some of these consumers could have had experience in making biltong at home, whilst others go<sup>t</sup> exposure to it in local butcheries and retail outlets. Therefore, background knowledge of a product could have effects on its acceptance as a desirable food. Henceforth, in the current investigation, it was interesting to note that contrary to the suggestions that consumers preferred processed game meat compared to fresh meat, consumers actually preferred fresh game meat compared to cabanossi and salami (Table 6). Since cabanossi and salami have Polish and Italian origins, respectively, they may not have been popular products among

the sample population, which could have contributed to less preference. Consumer acceptance of di fferent meat products is often a complex phenomenon encompassing several factors which include psychological and demographic factors as well as food choice habits [77]. Less preference reported for cabanossi and salami in this study could also be attributed to their high price since price was the single most important factor (7.2) a ffecting purchasing decisions (Table 6), especially if the product did not offer any known benefits to the consumer. Processed meat products are expected to fetch higher prices per kilogram unit because of a greater resource input. Therefore, these products must be produced to provide benefits beyond basic nutrition as functional meat products [82] if their preference among South African groups is to increase. The second most important factors determining the purchase of game meat products were fat content (6.5) and safety (6.7), while species (5.8) and origin (5.5) were ranked as the least contributing factors. Consumer trends are shifting towards eating healthy foods with reduced fat content to limit the onset of cardiovascular diseases, certain cancers and other food-related complications including microbial poisoning [82,83], although purchasing decisions for these meat products are governed by the availability of disposable income [77].

Least significant means for overall taste and appearance scores for the two-cabanossi treatments under current investigation are shown in Table 7. There were significant consumer preference di fferences (*p* ≤ 0.01) pertaining to taste and appearance between the two cabanossi treatments. The PF cabanossi was ranked higher for appearance followed by the SF treatment. The appearance of the product produces the first impression that consumers will judge it by. Consumers use this impression to estimate product freshness, quality and probable sensory characteristics [84]. The observation that PF cabanossi was more preferred in terms of appearance could be linked with higher ratings for red/brown colour intensity observed in the DSA. Consumers prefer darker, redder sausages with less perceived percentage fat because they consider them healthier meat products [85]. Although the perceived percentage fat was similar in both treatments during DSA, during consumer analysis, it was observed that SF cabanossi had an external oily sheen which could have been caused by pressure exerted on the sausages during vacuum packaging. Similarly, the observation that PF cabanossi scored higher for taste is in accordance with the DSA, which found that it received higher scores for the most favourable flavour attributes including overall flavour intensity, smoky flavour, cured pork flavour, peppery flavour and sweet taste (Table 5). Generally, both treatments were rendered acceptable by the consumers, receiving scores of more than 6. The consumers' acceptance of cabanossi from this study suggests that it is possible to produce acceptable cabanossi using SF.


**Table 7.** Least significant means for overall acceptance of cabanossi made with either pork backfat (PF) or sheep tail/backfat (SF).

a,b Means with different superscripts between columns are significantly different. All data are expressed as mean ± SE.
