Evidence of Changes in Preferences Among Beef Cuts Varieties: An Application of Poisson Regressions

US expenditures on beef products have shown a slow but consistent increase during the last decade. Beef purchases are determined largely by product attributes and the importance that consumers attach to them. Preferences have changed and consumers have become more concern about beef quality, attributes, and safety in general. This study presumes that beef cuts exist at a national level and that consumers know about the different attributes among beef products. These circumstances have encouraged the beef industry to differentiate and add value to its production chain in order to satisfy the increasing demand for a large variety of cuts and product forms. The importance of developing new products has prompted research that identifies consumer trends. Hence, the objective of this paper is to study household purchase behavior and determine the impact of a series of variables expected to affect the frequency of purchasing among beef cut categories across time. Of major interest in this study is if consumers tend to buy just one type of beef during a buying occasion or more.