VOLATILE FLAVOR COMPOUNDS AFFECTING CONSUMER ACCEPTABILITY OF KIWIFRUIT

Sensory research on kiwifruit has shown that specific sugars and acids, and volatile flavor compounds have causative effects on "sweet" and "acid" aroma and flavor attributes. New Zealand consumers (n = 162) assessed the perceived flavor intensity and acceptability of three volatile flavor compounds (ethyl butanoate, E-2-hexenal and hexanal) at varying levels in a model base solution. Increasing levels of ethyl butanoate positively affected all the acceptability attributes ("overall liking,""liking of aroma,""liking of flavor") as well as increased the perceived intensity of "kiwifruit aroma" and "kiwifruit flavor." Increasing levels of E-2-hexenal negatively affected all the acceptability attributes but increased the perceived intensity of "kiwifruit aroma" and "acid flavor." An increase in hexanal increased perceived intensity of "kiwifruit aroma." Ethyl butanoate and E-2-hexenel at the levels tested had the most prominent effects on consumer perceived intensity and acceptability of the "kiwifruit flavor."     

COMPARISON OF ATTRIBUTE LIKING AND JAR SCALES TO EVALUATE THE ADEQUACY OF SENSORY ATTRIBUTES OF MILK DESSERTS

Just-about-right (JAR) scales and attribute liking questions are usually used to study consumer perception of the sensory characteristics of food products. The aim of the present work was to compare the performance of attribute liking and JAR scales to evaluate consumers' perceived adequacy of flavor and texture of milk puddings. Two groups of consumers were asked to evaluate eight milk desserts using (1) overall liking followed by attribute liking for texture and flavor and (2) overall liking followed by JAR scales for thickness, creaminess, sweetness and vanilla flavor. Overall liking scores were significantly different when JAR scales or attribute liking questions were considered. Texture, flavor and overall liking scores were highly correlated to each other, providing the same information. JAR scales correlated better with the intensity of sensory attributes evaluated by a trained sensory panel, being JAR percentages a reliable tool to study the adequacy of sensory attributes.

PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS

Results from the present work showed that consumers might not be able to independently evaluate their liking of different sensory attributes of a product. For this reason, the use of attribute liking questions for studying the adequacy of sensory attributes in complex products would not be recommended. JAR scales were better indicators of the adequacy of sensory attributes. Consumers were able to independently evaluate texture and flavor attributes using JAR scales. However, the influence of JAR scales on overall liking scores should be taken into account when including these scales on consumer studies.     

PREFERENCE MAPPING OF TEXTURE OF DULCE DE LECHE

The texture of 12 commercial samples of dulce de leche was characterized by means of texture profile analysis. Two sensory manual texture attributes (hardness and ropiness) were evaluated by a panel of 11 trained assessors. A panel of 50 consumers evaluated the texture acceptability of the samples using a 9‐point structured scale. Consumers showed highly significant different degrees of liking for the texture of the evaluated samples of dulce de leche. Clusters identified with Pearson's correlation coefficient showed opposite preference patterns and provided more useful information regarding market segmentation than clusters identified with Euclidean distances. External preference mapping and partial least squares regression showed that hardness was a driver of liking for one segment of consumers, whereas for the other one it was a driver of disliking. When all the consumers were considered, external preference mapping indicated that the ideal texture of dulce de leche would be intermediate, showing the importance of identifying preference patterns and suggesting that data averaging in consumer preferences might affect information recovery, and may lead to wrong conclusions. Different preference mapping techniques were compared; it was found out that when the relationship between acceptability and texture attributes was not linear, external preference mapping showed the best results.     

WHAT SENSORY CHARACTERISTICS DRIVE PRODUCT QUALITY? AN ASSESSMENT OF INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES

Consumers differ dramatically in their sensory preferences for products. This paper assesses the relative importance of appearance, taste/flavor and texture as characteristics that drive acceptance for a complex pie product. The paper classifies consumers as being driven by one or more sensory attributes in their judgment of product quality. To do so, each consumer's liking rating is regressed against each separate attribute liking. The coefficient (M) of the linear equation "Overall Liking = M (Attribute Liking) + B" measures the relative importance of the sensory attribute as a driver of overall quality.     

IMPORTANCE OF SENSORY FACTORS IN PROCESSED SEAFOOD: METHODS AND RESULTS1

This paper considers “importance” of sensory attributes from the consumer point of view, with emphasis on processed seafood. There are three key measures of importance. Attitudinal importance measures what consumers think to be important and refers to general opinions about the category. Sensory system importance measures how strongly different sensory inputs (e.g., appearance, aroma, taste, texture) “drive” overall liking, and show the key sensory inputs to which consumers attend. Attribute level importance measures the relation between sensory intensity and overall liking for each attribute. It shows which specific attributes drive liking, how liking varies with the specific sensory attribute, and whether (and at what sensory level) there exists an optimal level.     

INFLUENCE OF EDUCATION/PROFESSION OF MEXICAN CONSUMERS ON ACCEPTANCE AND PURCHASE INTENT OF CORN TORTILLA

Influence of education/profession of Mexican consumers on acceptance and purchase intent of corn tortillas was evaluated. Two groups of 150 Mexican consumers each (faculty/graduate students [A] versus field laborers [B]) rated sensory acceptability of corn tortillas. Acceptance and purchase intent were rated using a binomial scale. Group B had higher expectations towards corn tortillas as indicated by lower acceptability ratings. Both groups used rollability, resistance-to-tearing, and chewiness to differentiate tortilla samples, but group B paid more attention to these attributes as indicated by higher canonical correlation values. Acceptance was influenced by overall liking for both groups; chewiness and taste were also significant for group B. Purchase intent was influenced by overall liking and taste for both groups, but color for group A, and appearance and chewiness for group B were also critical. This study demonstrated that education/profession of Mexican consumers affected their acceptance and purchase intent of corn tortillas.

PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS

This study revealed that education/profession of Mexican consumers affected acceptance and purchase intent of corn tortillas. Two groups of consumers with different levels of education had different expectation toward tortillas when making purchase decision. Understanding how each consumer segment differently perceives about the tortilla product will give marketers and manufacturers a better direction for developing tortilla products with expected sensory qualities.     

USE OF COMPUTER-GENERATED IMAGES AND CONJOINT ANALYSIS TO INVESTIGATE SENSORY EXPECTATIONS

Consumers unfamiliar with passion-fruit juice were presented with 24 computer generated package images on which six packaging factors (background color, picture, information, brand, language and shape) had been manipulated and asked to give scores for six expected sensory attributes (sweetness, pureness, sharpness, refreshing, freshness, naturalness) and liking. Significant effects were obtained for each attribute, with background color and information being the most important. Consumers varying in Need For Cognition (NFC) were affected differently by the investigated features of the package. High NFC individuals used less of the packaging factors than low NFC subjects did.     

Untrained consumer assessment of the eating quality of European beef: 2. Demographic factors have only minor effects on consumer scores and willingness to pay

The beef industry must become more responsive to the changing market place and consumer demands. An essential part of this is quantifying a consumer’s perception of the eating quality of beef and their willingness to pay for that quality, across a broad range of demographics. Over 19 000 consumers from Northern Ireland, Poland, Ireland and France each tasted seven beef samples and scored them for tenderness, juiciness, flavour liking and overall liking. These scores were weighted and combined to create a fifth score, termed the Meat Quality 4 score (MQ4) (0.3×tenderness, 0.1×juiciness, 0.3×flavour liking and 0.3×overall liking). They also allocated the beef samples into one of four quality grades that best described the sample; unsatisfactory, good-every-day, better-than-every-day or premium. After the completion of the tasting panel, consumers were then asked to detail, in their own currency, their willingness to pay for these four categories which was subsequently converted to a proportion relative to the good-every-day category (P-WTP). Consumers also answered a short demographic questionnaire. The four sensory scores, the MQ4 score and the P-WTP were analysed separately, as dependant variables in linear mixed effects models. The answers from the demographic questionnaire were included in the model as fixed effects. Overall, there were only small differences in consumer scores and P-WTP between demographic groups. Consumers who preferred their beef cooked medium or well-done scored beef higher, except in Poland, where the opposite trend was found. This may be because Polish consumers were more likely to prefer their beef cooked well-done, but samples were cooked medium for this group. There was a small positive relationship with the importance of beef in the diet, increasing sensory scores by about 4% in Poland and Northern Ireland. Men also scored beef about 2% higher than women for most sensory scores in most countries. In most countries, consumers were willing to pay between 150 and 200% more for premium beef, and there was a 50% penalty in value for unsatisfactory beef. After quality grade, by far the greatest influence on P-WTP was country of origin. Consumer age also had a small negative relationship with P-WTP. The results indicate that a single quality score could reliably describe the eating quality experienced by all consumers. In addition, if reliable quality information is delivered to consumers they will pay more for better quality beef, which would add value to the beef industry and encourage improvements in quality.     

EFFECT OF QUESTIONNAIRE DESIGN AND THE NUMBER OF SAMPLES TASTED ON HEDONIC RATINGS1

A total of 450 consumers participated in a test to determine whether questionnaire length, presence of key diagnostic questions or serving position affected their hedonic discrimination among yellow cakes. Consumers evaluated four yellow cakes representing a 2 × 2 factorial design of texture and flavor flaws. They used one of the following six questionnaires: only a 9-point hedonic scale, a 9-point hedonic scale with open end questions, and four others comprising a 2 × 2 factorial design with two levels of questionnaire length and two levels of questionnaire completeness. Neither the presence of key attribute questions nor the length of the questionnaire affected the value or the sensitivity of the judges’ overall liking scores. Samples tasted first received higher hedonic scores than those same samples tasted second throughfifth. Judges could discriminate among the samples on the basis of overall liking best when samples were tasted fourth or fifth.     

THE RELATION BETWEEN SENSORY, LIKING AND IMAGE ATTRIBUTES: THE CASE OF SOAP

This paper discusses the relation for soaps between sensory attributes and both liking and image attributes. A clear relation emerges between sensory attribute level and liking, but no clear relation emerges between sensory attributes and image attributes. There are two possible conclusions to be drawn from these results. One conclusion is that consumers can validly assign ratings to the image attribute of a soap, but that there is no way to trace this image rating back to sensory inputs. This conclusion suggests that more research is needed to understand the meaning of image attributes. The second conclusion is that consumers cannot validly rate the image attributes of a soap, even though they can complete the questionnaire. This second conclusion implies that consumers can validly rate some attributes (e.g., sensory, liking), but not others (e.g., image), and that it may be misleading to collect and attempt to analyze image ratings for health and beauty aids products.     

Consumer evaluation of meat quality from barrows,immunocastrates and boars in six countries

The practice of surgical castration of piglets and its alternatives is still under debate. Production of boars may impair meat quality due to boar taint and reduced tenderness compared to meat from surgically castrated male pigs, while immunocastration reduces boar taint and may improve meat quality but seems to be less accepted by the pig chain. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the consumer’s sensory appreciation of meat from barrows (BAs), immunocastrates (ICs) and boars (BOs) in six European countries, taking into account the selection of tainted carcass and consumers’ appreciation of boar taint. Loin chops of 30 BAs, 30 ICs and 30 BOs were evaluated by 752 consumers in six countries: Belgium, Czech Republic, Poland, Portugal, Romania and Spain. Consumers rated odour, flavour, tenderness, juiciness, overall liking and willingness to buy and sensitivity to and liking of androstenone (AND) and liking of skatole (SKA) was also tested. In each of the six countries, consumers liked the odour of the BO samples less than that of BA, and IC intermediate. For flavour, tenderness, juiciness, overall liking and willingness to buy, liking scores given by the Czech, Polish and Portuguese consumers significantly differed between the BA, BO and IC. Willingness to buy was highest for BA by Czech and Polish consumers and for BA and IC by Portuguese consumers. The frequency of the negative check all terms that apply terms also differed, with a higher frequency of disgusting for BO compared to BA and IC and of off-flavour, irritating, manure, sweat, disappointing compared to BA, and intermediate for IC. 31% of the consumers disliked the odour of AND (NEG_AND), and 36% of them were not sensitive; in contrast, 77% of the consumers disliked SKA (NEG_SKA). The decrease in flavour liking score for BO compared to BA and IC was more outspoken by the NEG_AND consumer, while NEG_SKA consumers gave an overall lower liking score independent of the type of male pig. The results of this study indicate that IC can be a valid alternative for surgical castration.     

SENSORY PROPERTIES AND CONSUMER PERCEPTION OF 'HOME-MADE'AND COMMERCIAL DAIRY ICE CREAM

Sensory properties and consumer perception of 2 'home-made'and 4 commercial dairy ice creams were examined. Conventional profiling by a trained panel found that most samples differed significantly in all attributes, but distinction of 'home-made'from commercial products was limited to few attributes. Principal component analysis separated the 'home-made'products from the commercial ones mainly on the basis of differences in appearance, aroma, creamy flavors and textural attributes. A consumer group (n=105) recorded preconception of 'home-made'ice cream acceptance, then received the product samples, in unlabeled condition, for assessment of degree of liking (DOL) and for identification as 'home-made'or commercial. Internal preference mapping of the DOL ratings showed that consumers were more closely grouped around samples which had higher intensities of certain attributes. Higher 'denseness', 'vanilla'aroma and 'buttery'flavor, were associated with more liking for commercial products. The 'home-made'high fat sample, although liked, tended to be grouped with commercial products. More marked textural attributes of 'ice crystals'and 'breakage'aided identification of the low-fat 'home-made'formulation, which was less liked overall. Overall, differences between the 'home-made'and commercial samples were small but consumer perception of the term 'home-made'was viewed favorably for dairy ice cream.     

INTERRELATIONS AMONG LIKING ATTRIBUTES FOR APPLE PIE: RESEARCH APPROACHES AND PRAGMATIC VIEWPOINTS

Liking is a key measure for applied product development. All too often, however, the liking attributes are simply reported, but other than analyzing overall liking ratings no other analysis is done on the ratings. Much more remains for applied product testers to learn from these liking attributes. This paper presents a detailed analysis of the interrelations among different liking attributes for apple pie. It shows that panelists discriminate among samples using different liking scales, but many of these scales correlate with each other creating a great deal of redundancy in the list of attributes. Factor analysis reveals one major dimension for liking of the entire pie, and three dimensions for liking of slices. A different way of analysis shows potentially more utility for developers. A linear model relating overall liking to each attribute liking reveals different slopes, suggesting different importance levels for the attribute liking scales. Furthermore, one can create an integrated liking model. The liking ratings can be combined into a single, overall product model, allowing the researcher to understand how changes in one liking attribute simultaneously affect all other liking attributes.     

EFFECTIVENESS OF CATEGORY AND LINE SCALES TO CHARACTERIZE CONSUMER PERCEPTION OF FRUITY FERMENTED FLAVOR IN PEANUTS

Fruity fermented (FF) flavor is a common off‐flavor in peanuts resulting from high‐temperature curing. The 9‐point hedonic scale is the most widely used scale to determine consumer acceptance; however, research has indicated that line scales may provide equal reliability and greater sensitivity. The objectives of this study were to characterize consumer perception of FF flavor in peanuts and to compare the effectiveness of the two scale types. Consumers (n = 208) evaluated control (no FF), low‐intensity (1.0) FF and high‐intensity (3.0) FF peanut pastes for the strength/intensity of roasted peanut flavor (RPF), sweet taste (ST), fresh peanut flavor (FPF) and overall liking (OV) using randomly assigned ballots. Sensitivity in defining consumer perception of off‐flavor in peanuts was greater with use of line scales than with the hedonic scale. The line scale indicated that FF flavor in peanuts, even at low intensity, negatively impacted OV and further identified significantly lower RPF and FPF perception by consumers. The hedonic scale identified only a difference in FPF and was not sensitive enough to show a difference in OV.     

A THURSTONE-COOMBS MODEL OF CONCURRENT RATINGS WITH SENSORY AND LIKING DIMENSIONS

A popular product testing procedure is to obtain sensory intensity and liking ratings from the same consumers. Consumers are instructed to attend to the sensory attribute, such as sweetness, when generating their liking response. We propose a new model of this concurrent ratings task that conjoins a unidimensional Thurstonian model of the ratings on the sensory dimension with a probabilistic version of Coombs' (1964) unfolding model for the liking dimension. The model assumes that the sensory characteristic of the product has a normal distribution over consumers. An individual consumer selects a sensory rating by comparing the perceived value on the sensory dimension to a set of criteria that partitions the axis into intervals. Each value on the rating scale is associated with a unique interval. To rate liking, the consumer imagines an ideal product, then computes the discrepancy or distance between the product as perceived by the consumer and this imagined ideal. A set of criteria are constructed on this discrepancy dimension that partition the axis into intervals. Each interval is associated with a unique liking rating. The ideal product is assumed to have a univariate normal distribution over consumers on the sensory attribute evaluated. The model is shown to account for 94.2% of the variance in a set of sample data and to fit this data significantly better than a bivariate normal model of the data (concurrent ratings, Thurstonian scaling, Coombs' unfolding model, sensory and liking ratings).     

SENSORY PROPERTIES AFFECTING ACCEPTABILITY OF "BRESAOLA" FROM PODOLIAN YOUNG BULLS

Three muscles ( Semimembranosus, Quadriceps femoris, Adductor ) from Podolian young bulls (aged 18 months) were processed into bresaolas, which were compared with commercial products, in terms of sensory profile and preference expressed by consumers. Slope analysis was conducted to study the preference drivers. The preference of homogeneous groups of consumers and the relationships with sensory properties of bresaola were investigated using partial least squares (PLS) regression analysis. The products differed for several sensory properties, such as sweetness, flavor intensity ( P <  0.001), saltiness ( P <  0.01), peppered, seasoned and tenderness ( P <  0.05). The slope analysis showed that taste/flavor ( k =  0.86) and appearance ( k =  0.76) play an important role in orienting consumer preference, while texture ( k =  0.54) is less important. No general trend was found for product liking. Conversely, PLS regression clustered the consumers in homogeneous groups: one preferred the commercial products characterized by sensory properties such as peppered, saltiness, seasoned and marbling, another one was more oriented toward properties such as sweetness, odor and chewiness, which characterized Podolian bresaolas.

PRACTICAL APPLICATION

Partial least squares regression analysis clustered the consumers in homogeneous groups according to their liking: those preferring peppered, salty, seasoned and marbling bresaolas versus those oriented toward sweet and odorous products. In addition, the relationship between overall liking and attribute liking (appearance, taste/flavor and texture) was analyzed by linear regression analysis. This may be helpful in order to establish meaningful criteria for grading bresaolas and identify the particular attributes that move its acceptance (i.e., taste/flavor and appearance rather than texture).     

Creating Public Awareness of How Goats Are Reared and Milk Produced May Affect Consumer Acceptability

This study evaluated whether showing a video of the different ways of raising goats for milk affected consumer acceptability. Four combinations, 2 Videos (intensive [INT] and semiextensive [SEM] system) × 2 Milk Types (semiskimmed [S] and whole [W] milk), were evaluated by 70 habitual consumers of goat milk, who scored their liking and purchase intention during blind (B), expected (E), and informed (I) acceptability sessions. In the B session, consumers tasted both milk types without information. S samples were preferred over W samples. In the E session, SEM video created high expectations in terms of milk liking and purchase intent, whereas the opposite happened when showing INT video. In the I session, consumers showed a clear preference for combinations created using SEM video, regardless of milk type. W-SEM and S-INT were worse (negative disconfirmation) and better (positive disconfirmation) than expected, respectively. A complete assimilation toward expectations occurred only for S-INT. INT video adversely affected the acceptability of S samples. Concerning purchase intent, W-SEM and S-SEM were worse than expected, but the assimilation was complete only for S-SEM: SEM video increased purchase intent for S samples.     

Review: The variability of the eating quality of beef can be reduced by predicting consumer satisfaction

The Meat Standards Australia (MSA) grading scheme has the ability to predict beef eating quality for each ‘cut×cooking method combination’ from animal and carcass traits such as sex, age, breed, marbling, hot carcass weight and fatness, ageing time, etc. Following MSA testing protocols, a total of 22 different muscles, cooked by four different cooking methods and to three different degrees of doneness, were tasted by over 19 000 consumers from Northern Ireland, Poland, Ireland, France and Australia. Consumers scored the sensory characteristics (tenderness, flavor liking, juiciness and overall liking) and then allocated samples to one of four quality grades: unsatisfactory, good-every-day, better-than-every-day and premium. We observed that 26% of the beef was unsatisfactory. As previously reported, 68% of samples were allocated to the correct quality grades using the MSA grading scheme. Furthermore, only 7% of the beef unsatisfactory to consumers was misclassified as acceptable. Overall, we concluded that an MSA-like grading scheme could be used to predict beef eating quality and hence underpin commercial brands or labels in a number of European countries, and possibly the whole of Europe. In addition, such an eating quality guarantee system may allow the implementation of an MSA genetic index to improve eating quality through genetics as well as through management. Finally, such an eating quality guarantee system is likely to generate economic benefits to be shared along the beef supply chain from farmers to retailors, as consumers are willing to pay more for a better quality product.