Beef consumption and consumers knowledge on meat quality in Maroua in the Far North of Cameroon

The objective of this study was to determine beef consumption and evaluate the knowledge of consumers on meat quality in Maroua city in the Far North Region of Cameroon. To achieve this, 202 households selected using a gripped map and random selection method were surveyed. The cookers or cooks were surveyed and observed in each household. During this survey, the pieces of beef, as cuts before cooking, were weighted and the quantity of beef consumed per person was calculated. The influence of socio economic and demographic factors related to consumer (religion, age, monthly income, number of person in the household and district) on beef consumption was also evaluated. Overall, 96% of the surveyed households consumed meat and among them, 98% eat beef. Beef is consumed the most (72%), followed by goat (21%), sheep (5%), chicken (1%) and pork (1%). In majority of the beef-eating households (39%), cattle meat was eaten two or three times per week. In addition, a person consumed 133.25 ± 33.49 g of beef per day and this consumption rate was affected by the age, monthly income and the district position. During the evaluation of consumer’s knowledge on meat quality, color and tenderness were found to be the most important factors for consumers. These findings suggest that meat consumption in the livestock production area in Cameroon is very important as it is higher than that observed in the whole Cameroon and in Africa. Thus Cameroonian government should focus on improving meat consumption in consumption zones.