Ambiguous food products: consumersâ views on enhanced meat

N.K. Nissen; P. SandÃ¸e; L. Holm

Ambiguous food products: consumersâ views on enhanced meat

In: Ethical futures: bioscience and food horizons

Authors:

N.K. Nissen

N.K. Nissen ¹Sociology of Food, Institute of Human Nutrition, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Rolighedsvej 30, DK-1958 Frederiksberg C, Denmark; Nikn@life.ku.dk

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P. SandÃ¸e

P. SandÃ¸e ²Danish Centre for Bioethics and Risk Assessment, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Rolighedsvej 25, DK-1958 Frederiksberg C, Denmark

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, and

L. Holm

L. Holm ¹Sociology of Food, Institute of Human Nutrition, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Rolighedsvej 30, DK-1958 Frederiksberg C, Denmark; Nikn@life.ku.dk

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Type:: Chapter

Pages:: 265â270

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.3920/9789086866731_046

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In Denmark it is becoming increasingly common for cuts of meat to be enhanced by injection or by tumbling with a solution of water, salt, sugar, and other ingredients such as phosphates, antioxidants and acids. This is primarily done to make the meat more moist and tender. The introduction and spread of this technology has generally gone unnoticed. However, some criticism has been raised about this method of processing meat and the way it is marketed. On the other hand, a sensorial test has shown that consumers prefer enhanced meat to non-enhanced meat. This study investigated consumersâ conceptualisations of enhanced meat. Four focus group interviews were conducted involving 27 consumers from various socio-demographic backgrounds. The focus group interviews concerned the consumersâ knowledge of enhanced meat and their ways of conceptualising and assessing this type of meat. Unprompted, the consumers had very little knowledge of enhanced meat. When introduced to enhanced meat they expressed ambivalence. On the one hand, the consumers liked the taste, tenderness and moisture of the enhanced meat. They also liked the fact that enhanced meat remains tender and moist when cooked because it is insensitive to harsh cooking. On the other hand, enhanced meat was considered by the consumers to be unnatural and unauthentic, and was assumed to be associated with long-term health risks. Furthermore, the interviewed consumers associated the enhanced meat with foul play because it is sold under the misleading label âneutrally marinated meatâ. When new food products enter the market they will after a while be positioned in relation to existing categories of foods (as high quality or discount products, as everyday food or festive food, etc.), but the final position of enhanced meat in the categorisation of foods in Denmark is not yet settled. Consumers request that enhanced meat is labelled and marketed in an honest way. However, even if that occurs, and even though this type of product is in some contexts seen as useful, it may in most contexts still be viewed as potentially problematic.

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Ethical futures: bioscience and food horizons

E-Book ISBN:: 9789086866731

Publisher:: Wageningen Academic

Print Publication Date:: 30 Oct 2009

Subjects
- Life Sciences

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Ambiguous food products: consumersâ views on enhanced meat

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Ethical futures: bioscience and food horizons

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