Coeliac consumers’ expectations and eye fixations on commercial gluten-free bread packages

Abstract

The aim of this work was to investigate coeliac consumers' expected acceptability and trust in commercial bread packages showing different brands and gluten-free claims in relation to their gaze fixations when observing the package. For that, ten commercial gluten-free breads were used (varying in the brand and presence of certification logo). Eighty-six coeliac consumers or relatives rated expected acceptability and trust of each bread, and eye-tracking was used to register the number of fixations on different elements of packages. Brand affected expected acceptability, being higher for breads from specific gluten-free brands. Trust conferred was high for all breads. Certification logo did not affect trust of consumers, but conditioned their fixations: when logo was not present, they looked more at the ingredients or nutritional facts. Both factors (brand and certification logo) showed to affect coeliac consumers’ response to gluten-free food, such as expected acceptability, trust and how they looked at the different package elements.