Consumer acceptability of coffee as affected by situational conditions and involvement

For understanding consumer behaviors more closely to what would be observed in real-life, “situational” tests has been widely studied using two main approaches: ‘physical environment’ or ‘cognitive evocation’. Both approaches have shown advantages in adopting consumption context in consumer tests. However, it has not been investigated whether either one of the approaches may be more effective or whether using these approaches together would be more advantageous than using each solely in terms of bring in consumption context. The aims were to understand the effects of evocation in different environmental settings on consumers liking and to explore the differences of these effects based on consumer involvement levels. Consumers participated in one of the 4 contextual conditions of 2 × 2 factorial design, consisting of ‘evocation’ factor (with vs. without evocation instruction) and ‘environment’ factor (booth vs. simulated café), respectively. Consumers evaluated liking for two coffee samples and responded to a coffee involvement questionnaire. The results showed that both factors have influenced on consumer liking. These effects were different according to coffee types differing in hedonic levels. Vividness of evocation lasted longer in the simulated café setting, implying physical cues reinforcing cognitive evocation. When consumers were classified according to involvement scores, liking score of the high involvement group was little affected by either situational factors, while low involvement group was highly affected by the ‘environment’ factor. The findings of the study provide important perspectives to be considered for researches into “situational” tests, including which situational approach to apply as well as consumer involvement.     

Consumer sensory analysis of organically and conventionally grown vegetables

ABSTRACT:  Consumers of organically grown fruits and vegetables often believe that these products taste better than conventional produce. However, comparison of produce from supermarket shelves does not permit adequate assessment of this consumer perception, given potentially confounding cultivar and environmental effects. We used replicated side-by-side plots to produce organic and conventional vegetables for consumer sensory studies. In one test, red loose leaf lettuce, spinach, arugula, and mustard greens, grown organically and conventionally, were evaluated for overall liking as well as for intensity of flavor and bitterness. Another consumer test was conducted comparing organically and conventionally grown tomatoes, cucumbers, and onions. Overall, organically and conventionally grown vegetables did not show significant differences in consumer liking or consumer-perceived sensory quality. The only exception was in tomatoes where the conventionally produced tomato was rated as having significantly stronger flavor than the organically produced tomato. However, overall liking was the same for both organic and conventional samples. As conventional tomatoes also were scored marginally significantly higher in ripeness and a positive correlation was found between ratings of flavor intensity and ripeness, the flavor difference observed could not be simply ascribed to the contrasting growing conditions. Consumer panelists in both tests considered organic produce to be healthier (72%) and more environmentally friendly (51%) than conventional produce, while 28% considered organic produce to have better taste. Covariance analysis indicated that consumer demographics affected sensory comparisons of organic and conventional lettuce and cucumbers. Future study is needed to substantiate the influence of segmentation of consumers on their preference for organic food.     

US consumers’ acceptability of soy sauce and <Emphasis Type="Italic">bulgogi</Emphasis>

This study investigated acceptability and consumer segmentation of soy sauce and famous Korean dish, bulgogi. A total of 123 participants evaluated intensity of 18 attributes and sensory liking of 4 commercial soy sauce samples and bulgogi samples made by aforementioned soy sauces. The overall results showed that appearance liking was the only significant different attribute among soy sauce samples and there were no significant differences among bulgogi samples. Furthermore, there was little correlation between overall liking of soy sauce and bulgogi samples. However, different segments of consumer groups were found by cluster analysis. Four and five subgroups of consumers were identified on evaluation of soy sauce samples and bulgogi samples, respectively. These results demonstrated that consumers’ different preference pattern. In conclusion, this study specified characteristics of commercial soy sauce perceived by consumers and consumers’ acceptability toward soy sauces and bulgogi made using soy sauces.     

Evaluation of Consumer Acceptance and Quality of Thermally and High Hydrostatic Pressure Processed Blueberries and Cherries Subjected to Cellulose Nanofiber (CNF) Incorporated Water-Resistant Coating Treatment

This study evaluated the influence of cellulose nanofiber (CNF) incorporated layer-by-layer water-resistant coating on consumer acceptance of blueberries and cherries processed in light syrup thermally (TP, 97 °C for 7 min) or non-thermally (high hydrostatic pressure (HHP), 414 MPa for 10 min). The coating technique was validated on canned blueberries in a commercial canning operation. Consumers (n?=?75 and 77 for blueberry and cherry study, respectively) scored overall, color, aroma, and texture likeness of coated and uncoated processed fruits using a 9-point hedonic scale and firmness intensity using a 5-point just about right (JAR) scale. Coating treatment significantly (P?<?0.05) increased aroma and texture liking scores of TP and HHP blueberries compared with uncoated ones, but did not impact overall and color liking scores. Coated TP (2.67) and HHP (2.96) blueberries received closer to JAR score in firmness that uncoated ones (1.88 and 2.57, respectively). Informing consumers about the benefit of developed coatings altered consumers’ attitude from negative (~?80 and ~?57% gave “neutral” and “disliking” scores on TP and HHP samples, respectively) into positive status (“I would like the overall appearance”). Coating treatment resulted in higher aroma liking scores in HHP cherries, but decreased (P?<?0.05) overall and color liking scores on both TP and HHP cherries due to the presence of visible coating substances onto fruit surface. In commercial canning process, coated blueberries showed great retention of bioactive compounds and firmness. This study demonstrated that CNF incorporated layer-by-layer coating is promising to produce high quality of processed fruits in light syrup.     

Asians’ Facial Responsiveness to Basic Tastes by Automated Facial Expression Analysis System

Growing evidence shows that consumer choices in real life are mostly driven by unconscious mechanisms rather than conscious. The unconscious process could be measured by behavioral measurements. This study aims to apply automatic facial expression analysis technique for consumers’ emotion representation, and explore the relationships between sensory perception and facial responses. Basic taste solutions (sourness, sweetness, bitterness, umami, and saltiness) with 6 levels plus water were used, which could cover most of the tastes found in food and drink. The other contribution of this study is to analyze the characteristics of facial expressions and correlation between facial expressions and perceptive hedonic liking for Asian consumers. Up until now, the facial expression application researches only reported for western consumers, while few related researches investigated the facial responses during food consuming for Asian consumers. Experimental results indicated that facial expressions could identify different stimuli with various concentrations and different hedonic levels. The perceived liking increased at lower concentrations and decreased at higher concentrations, while samples with medium concentrations were perceived as the most pleasant except sweetness and bitterness. High correlations were founded between perceived intensities of bitterness, umami, saltiness, and facial reactions of disgust and fear. Facial expression disgust and anger could characterize emotion “dislike,” and happiness could characterize emotion “like,” while neutral could represent “neither like nor dislike.” The identified facial expressions agree with the perceived sensory emotions elicited by basic taste solutions. The correlation analysis between hedonic levels and facial expression intensities obtained in this study are in accordance with that discussed for western consumers.     

Sensory acceptability and willingness to buy foods presented as having benefits achieved through the use of nanotechnology

Nanotechnology is the manipulation of matter on a small scale (1-billionth of a meter). Nanomaterials have been used extensively in food production and packaging to improve food safety and eating quality. However, consumer knowledge of nanotechnology is low and the public’s perceptions about its use in foods is poorly understood. This study assessed consumers’ knowledge and attitudes towards food nanotechnology, and measured degree of liking and purchase intent for tasted foods presented as having specific nanotechnology benefits. Participants were 161 young, mostly college-educated adults. They evaluated samples of fresh cherry tomatoes and chocolate ice cream for overall liking and liking of key attributes using 15-cm line scales. They were informed that the first sample of each food had no nanotechnology (control), but the subsequent samples were produced with nanotechnology materials. For the tomatoes, nanoparticles were added to the packaging as an anti-microbial or to extend freshness; for the ice cream, nanoparticles were incorporated into the food matrix to deliver probiotics or reduce icing. In reality, no foods were produced with nanotechnology. Participants also completed surveys on their food attitudes and knowledge of nanotechnology. Results showed that all the samples were highly liked, regardless of whether they claimed to deliver nanotechnology benefits. In addition, most (75–86%) participants were willing to buy the nanotechnology foods; the primary reasons being “sensory appeal” and “nanotechnology benefit” (p < 0.01). These results show that a majority of young, educated consumers had positive attitudes towards foods with nanotechnology and were willing to buy them.     

Understanding consumer perception of deep-fried battered and breaded coatings

This study aims to investigate three types of deep-fried battered and breadcrumb coatings (fine, medium, and coarse), each coating varying in breadcrumb size. Instrumental testing using X-ray micro-computerized tomography, texture analysis, and acoustic analysis confirms significant differences between each sample in terms of physical and mechanical properties. Four hedonic and 9 sensory attributes were evaluated by 185 consumers for preference and acceptance (9-point scale and just-about-right-scale). Penalty analysis confirmed significant mean drops within all three samples (p < .05), “coarse” having the most and “medium” having the least. This explains “medium” having the overall highest liking score (6.72) and coarse having significantly lower (5.88). Crispness is an important textural attribute representing freshness and quality of deep-fried coatings. However, penalty analysis shows “coarse” coatings with the highest crispness scores, resulting in the greatest significant mean drop (2.01) and lowest overall liking. A combination of flavor, appearance, and texture-related attributes significantly reduce hedonic score (p < .05). Agglomerative hierarchical cluster analysis confirms three clusters of consumers based on liking for either “coarse,” “medium,” or “fine.” Each of these samples has a significant difference in the microstructure. Chi-square test confirms a significant difference in product quality, purchase intent, and met expectations between samples in each cluster group (p < .05). The findings in this research highlight how differences in microstructure of battered and breaded coatings influence textural properties and consumer preference. This can be applied to a wide battered and breaded goods.     

Consumers' hedonic expectations and perception of the healthiness of biscuits made with olive oil or sunflower oil

Vegetable oils can be used as an alternative to solid fats to produce biscuits with a healthier fatty acid profile. The aim of this work was to study how consumers perceived the information about fat on biscuit labels when olive oil or sunflower oil was used instead of a saturated fat and how much the replacement affected acceptability. Six samples of biscuits were prepared, varying in fat source (dairy shortening, olive oil and sunflower oil) and in fat content (10.6 and 15.6%). Biscuit labels were designed to include the claims “with olive oil”, “with sunflower oil” or “low in saturated fat” and nutritional facts tables with the respective values that corresponded in each case. Consumers (n = 100) evaluated their liking for the samples and perception of their healthiness under three conditions: blind (the biscuit was provided), expected (the label was provided) and informed (both biscuit and label were provided). In general, consumers expected that they would like the olive and sunflower oil biscuits with low fat contents the most, although when they tasted the biscuits these samples obtained the lowest liking scores. Thus, they did not associate a low-fat vegetable-oil biscuit with a decrease in sensory properties compared to its high fat counterpart. Furthermore, when information on the fat source was provided the consumers seemed to attach less importance than they should have to the total fat level. Although the fat source claim (“with olive oil” or “with sunflower oil”) and the nutritional claim (“low saturated fat content”) included on the labels increased the consumers' liking scores, eventually both the sensory quality of the samples and the information provided affected the actual liking for the samples. However, the perception of the biscuits' healthiness was based on the label information alone and the hedonic characteristics of the samples did not affect it.     

Determining consumer purchase intentions: the importance of dry matter, size, and price of kiwifruit

Abstract: Knowledge of the relative importance of food quality attributes in determining consumer purchase intention is critical for robust assessment of economic opportunities for industry growth. The aim of this study is to demonstrate how conjoint analysis methodology that incorporates tasting of fruit can be used to collect such information. Three hundred Japanese consumers took part in research designed to measure the importance of dry matter (DM), size, and price of kiwifruit (Actinidia deliciosa “Hayward” and Actinidia chinensis “Hort16A”) for purchase intention. Measurement of consumer liking for kiwifruit of different DM content was a key first step. Liking increased as DM increased and was accompanied by increased purchase likelihood/choice probability for kiwifruit. The size of kiwifruit presented to consumers varied from “small” to “extra large.” Consumers liked “mid‐sized” kiwifruit over “small” or “extra‐large” kiwifruit. Despite these differences in liking, size was of little importance in determining purchase likelihood/choice probability for kiwifruit. Price was a very important factor in determining purchase likelihood/choice probability but was less important than DM content. As price increased, purchase likelihood/choice probability decreased. Beneath these general findings, heterogeneity existed. Some consumers placed more/less importance on the focal purchase drivers than suggested by the aggregate model. Overall, the results suggest that incentive schemes already implemented by industry should consider rewarding high‐DM fruit more than fruit size. Practical Application: This research has contributed to the New Zealand kiwifruit industry gaining a better understanding of the relative importance consumers place on DM, size, and price of kiwifruit and has resulted in changes to grower incentive schemes. The research approach presented forces consumer to tradeoff attributes of kiwifruit against each other and decide on how important two key quality attributes—DM and size—are relative to each other and relative to price. The application of conjoint analysis in this article can be transferred to other fruits, food, and beverages and help guide consumer‐led innovation.     

Cross‐cultural comparisons between Korean and U.S. adults with respect to texture perception and acceptance of cooked milled rice

This study aimed to determine whether texture perception and acceptance of cooked rice could differ with cultural background, especially between Korean and American participants. Participants evaluated eight cooked rice samples with respect to intensities of textural attributes such as visual stickiness, hardness, stickiness and chewiness. Participants also rated the acceptability of and familiarity with those samples. Results showed that Americans gave higher ratings to cooked rice samples with respect to visual stickiness, stickiness and chewiness, while Koreans gave higher ratings to hardness than their counterpart. For Americans, chewiness was considered as a negative driver; whereas for Koreans, visual stickiness and stickiness were identified as positive drivers of overall liking for cooked rice samples. Moreover, a familiarity level of cooked rice samples was a pronounced positive driver of liking for both American and Korean participants. In conclusion, our findings provide empirical evidence that cultural background influences texture perception and liking of cooked rice.     

Flavor principle as an implicit frame: Its effect on the acceptance of instant noodles in a cross-cultural context

This study investigated how the stability of liking ratings for instant noodles can be affected by implicit frames of reference constructed by flavor principles, unique combinations of flavor ingredients that can be identified as characterizing a particular ethnic/cultural cuisine, in a cross-cultural context. The influence of consumers’ food neophobia on the liking of noodles was studied as well. Koreans (n = 263) and Chinese (n = 258) residing in South Korea participated. Products with the highest market share in China (T_CHN) and Korea (T_KOR) were chosen as the targets. The implicit frame of reference applied during the sample evaluation was manipulated by exposing consumers to instant noodles composed of a particular “ethnic flavor principle” before tasting the two target samples. Consumers were split into five groups and were allocated to one of the three flavor principle frame conditions or one of the two controlled conditions. Consumers in the Asian frame were exposed to three noodles popular in Indonesia, Thailand, and Japan. Three Chinese and three Korean noodles were served in the Chinese and Korean frames, respectively. Two groups of consumers within each country served as controls and tasted a single sample of either T_CHN or T_KOR. Consumers rated how much they liked the samples. Consumer’s food neophobia was measured. Consumers searched for a contextual flavor consistent with the conditioned frame of reference when they were evaluating the target samples under their own country's flavor principle and tended to give lower liking scores for foreign target samples than for other samples. However, when the frame of reference was constructed with a foreign flavor principle, the degree of familiarity with the target sample positively influenced its liking score. Food neophobic attitudes influenced the liking of unfamiliar samples. Moreover, consumers’ food neophobia scores were affected by type of implicit flavor principle frame.