Determination of the criteria used by the consumers for beef purchase preferences in Adana province and establishing their relationships with some quali̇ty measurements

In the first phase of the study, a questionnaire was applied to 384 people in order to determine some criteria affecting meat purchasing decisions in Adana. In the second phase; Consumers' preferences for the degree of doneness and for the pieces at different cooking temperatures were investigated using two pieces of meat cuts which were available in the Turkish market and can be bought by consumers without additional effort and defined by the producer as high quality and standard quality meats. It was seen that the majority of consumers in Adana prefer to have low marbling level or fat content when purchasing meat. In terms of degree of doneness preferences, it was determined that the majority of consumers preferred well-done or very well-done meat. The effect of education and income levels on marbling and expiration date was statistically significant when purchasing fresh beef. No statistically significant difference was found between L *, a *, b *, pH, ash, fat, protein and cooking loss values of the samples. Simple ranking test results for both pieces show that meat cooked at 71 ℃ is the least-liked, 77 ℃ (well-done) and 82 ℃ (very well-done) is the most preferred meat. Preference test results showed that the difference between the pieces was not statistically significant. This indicates that the meat pieces, which were defined as high quality and standard quality in the market conditions, were not actually different from each other.