Abstract

To investigate the strong prejudice against goat meat and to assist with promoting goat meat consumption in Japan, a taste-test survey and two questionnaire surveys were carried out amongst 30 university students. A pre-questionnaire survey was undertaken before the goat meat was tasted to understand the first impressions of the meat. Three different goat meat dishes (simmered meat and potatoes, goat casserole and sweet and sour goat) were served for taste evaluation. The results from this survey suggested that goat meat should be rebranded before embarking on a promotional campaign in Japan. "Chevre meat" has been chosen as a new term to promote goat meat. The phonological phrase "goat" in Japanese is not appealing to the Japanese consumer. Instead of using the Japanese word for goat, "chevre" (which in French means goat) is suitable for promotion. Combining the French and English words together as "chevre meat" sounds attractive to the Japanese consumer. Attaching an attractive recipe card to the chevre meat package will help consumers to understand how to prepare goat meat. Based on these results, a New Zealand exporter has undertaken to ship a New Zealand goat meat sample to Japan beginning in late 2005.

T, Ozawa, J Nishitani, and HT Blair

Proceedings of the New Zealand Society of Animal Production, Volume 66, Napier, 360-362, 2006