A Norwegian project, “Quality, information and labelling”, aimed at determining how best to market domestic beef, has found that customers were most interested in how tender and juicy a cut was, and would happily pay more to be sure of getting what they wanted.


The study, carried out by the Agricultural University of Norway (NLH), advised producers to provide information in labelling to justify a higher price for choicer cuts.


“The consumer ideal would be for meat to be graded by tenderness and to suggest what kind of dishes it suited best,” said NLH Professor Kyrre Rickertsen.


The project charted the factors of most interest to meat consumers (tenderness and price) and then tested the extent of their willingness to pay more for superior quality.


The study found that consumers overestimated how much more they were willing to pay, but on average did pay 10% more when convinced they were getting high grade beef.