Taste panel assessments were conducted to gain information on the eating quality of kangaroo meat.

Meat, from six male and six female animals ranging in age from 1.5 to 9 years was assessed by taste panels for tenderness (on a six point scale), flavour (on a five point scale) and acceptability (on a six point scale). Three tasting sessions were conducted with a panel of between 11 and 22 tasters and on two occasions samples of beef were included.

There was a linear relationship (p<.001) between age and tenderness with meat from young animals being more tender than that from old animals and meat from females more tender than that from males (p<0.01). Neither age nor sex had any effect on flavour or acceptability.

It is argued that these differences in tenderness have little practical significance and that kangaroo meat derived from both female and male animals of a wide range of ages will be acceptable to consumers. The results also showed that kangaroo meat compared very favourably with beef.

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