L. E. Jeremiah Agri-Food Canada Research Center

Publish Date: June 3, 2006

Relevance to the Pork Industry Effective marketing is the key to profitability in any industry. To effectively market in premium, remote export markets and in premium value-added domestic markets, products must have sufficient storage life to facilitate orderly distribution and merchandising.

Publish Date: June 3, 2006

Consumers ideally desire attractive, economically priced products with desirable color, which are nutritious and healthy, tender, juicy, and flavorful, with no fat or additives. At the point of purchase, consumers visually assess meat products for size, shape, color, fat to lean and lean to bone ratio, texture, and cost perserving (McGill, 1981). They then base their purchasing decision on a balance of these factors, deter-mined by past personal experience, which they perceive will provide assurance of maximum eating satisfaction. Unless meat products pass this initial evaluation, further evaluation will not proceed. Once a product has been purchased, consumers respond to aromatic, taste, and mouthful sensations during consumption, which result in hedonic or value judgments, based upon past personal experience.