Pork consumer preferences in central Mexico

Pork is one of the three main red meats consumed in the Mexican diet, providing protein, minerals (iron and zinc) and vitamins. The objective of this research was to determine pork consumption habits and trends in the states of Tlaxcala, Morelos, Hidalgo, Guerrero, Puebla and Mexico, which together form the main marketing and consumption region in the country, on the basis of income level and services integrated to this meat. The information was obtained by applying a semi-structured survey to 702 people in food outlets, using contingency tables that allow segmenting quantitative and categorical variables of an economic-social nature, after which the null hypothesis of independence was tested by correlating pairs of these variables, through chi-square tests. Results show that when correlating consumption and income with the type of cut and place of purchase, lower-income people prefer pre-cut, unpackaged meat and buy it in butcher’s shops and markets because it is neither frozen nor refrigerated. It was found that consumers in this region spend up to 1,500 pesos monthly for the purchase of this meat and consume it up to 10 times monthly.