Consumer ratings for all tenderness scores are shown in Table 5. Tenderness scores were more desirable (P b 0.01) for Top Choice (63.79) compared to Select (52.54), regardless of muscle. Consumers rated LL (68.06) as more tender (P b 0.01) than SV (63.28) and SM (34.72), but similar to GM(66.59; P N 0.05). Consumers scored the tenderness of SM far lower (P b 0.05) than any other muscle, which aligns with the greater shear force values. However, a more distinct separation was observed in consumer tenderness scores than WBSF between SM and the other muscles.