Consumer Assessment of Lamb Loin and Leg from Australia, New Zealand, and United States

Lamb was sourced from 3 countries [Australia (AUS), New Zealand (NZ), and United States (US)] representing 2 muscle types (semimembranosus and longissimus lumborum) to evaluate the palatability of lamb loin and leg chops according to US consumers (n = 360). For tenderness, flavor, and overall liking, there was an interaction detected between source country and muscle (P < 0.05). Overall, US loin chops had the highest (P < 0.05) consumer sensory scores, were rated the most acceptable (P < 0.05), and were placed in better than everyday quality or premium quality categories more often than all other treatments. Leg samples sourced from AUS and NZ were rated the lowest (P < 0.05) for consumer sensory scores for tenderness, flavor liking and overall liking, as well as being the least acceptable (P < 0.05) for flavor liking and overall liking. Both source country and muscle impacted (P < 0.01) juiciness scores, as well as tenderness and juiciness acceptability. US chops were juicier and more acceptable for tenderness and juiciness than chops sourced from AUS or NZ, regardless of muscle; consumers rated loin chops juicier and more acceptable for tenderness and juiciness than legs chops, regardless of source country (P < 0.05). Overall, consumers detected differences in palatability between muscle type and the source country. Loin chops were preferred over leg chops for all palatability traits. US consumers preferred the domestically sourced lamb over the lamb sourced from AUS and NZ; however, complete animal background (diet, gender, and age) and knowledge of potential differences in slaughter and chilling conditions, as well as control over postmortem aging, is needed to help differentiate if differences in flavor were due to diet, genetics, or other environmental factors.