Awareness of meat safety and quality among red meat consumers in Kerala Chethan G N, Senthilkumar R Department of Veterinary and Animal Husbandry Extension, College of Veterinary and Animal Huabandry Sciences, KVASU, Kerala – 673576 Corresponding Author's Email - bimal.bashir@kvasu.ac.in
Online published on 3 May, 2025. Abstract Culinary taste was observed to be important attribute towards consumption of red meat. Among these red meats carabeef and chevon were most accepted among consumers, carabeef being available at less than half of chevon price was widely consumed in Kerala state. With the aim of understanding meat consumers preferences along with their level of awareness on safety and quality of meat, the study was conducted. Socio-demography of consumers revealed that majority of respondents were middle aged group (46.66%), had graduate and above education (41.66%). Majority of carabeef consumers were employed in agriculture and animal husbandry (AH) and from salaried class with the income group of Rs. 1.8 lakh to 4.03 lakh whereas chevon consumers are from salaried class with the income group of 4.03 lakh to 6.26lakh. Fish was the most consumed meat followed by chicken, carabeef, beef and chevon with per capita consumption of 32.46 Kg, 16.5 Kg 7.26 Kg, 4.62 Kg and 3.66 Kg, respectively. Majority of (58.33%) consumers had a medium level of awareness, while studying domain-wise awareness of consumers, optimum storage conditions and consumption period for meat and awareness about hygiene at the meat shop were the domains where consumers have high (Mean score 52.83) and low level of awareness (MS 45.18). Adopting multiple linear regressions on understanding factors influencing consumer's awareness revealed that gender, education, family size, type of family and quantity of meat consumed were the factors prompting at 5 per cent level (P< 0.05), whereas total annual income influencing at 1 per cent level (P< 0.01). Top Keywords Awareness, Carabeef, Chevon, Per capita consumption, Quality meat, Red Meat. Top |