Consumer evaluation of health and environmental label concepts on sensory acceptance and wellness perception of fortified oat beverage

Abstract

The study aimed to determine how health and environmental labels affect consumer perception of sensory attributes, overall liking, and wellness perception of oat milk fortified with β-glucan and pea protein. Oat milk was fortified with 6.25 g β-glucan and 14.12 g pea protein per liter. Consumers (n = 108) evaluated oat milk for four consecutive days: Day 1 (label pre-exposure) in a food sensory laboratory; Day 2 and 3 evaluations through a Home-Use-Test (HUT) of bottles labeled with either health or environmental benefits; Day 4 (post-exposure) in a food sensory laboratory. Oat flavor and creaminess intensity, and overall liking on the 9-point hedonic scale were evaluated daily and wellness perception (six dimensions assessed by 31 CATA items) was evaluated on Days 1 and 4. Creaminess was perceived to be significantly greater on Day 1 than Day 4, attributed to adaptation effects, while oat flavor and overall liking (‘like moderately’) were not significantly different over four days. Overall liking was not significantly influenced by location of evaluation (CLT and HUT) or exposure to labels. For wellness perception, the most mentioned terms were from general, physical, and emotional dimensions after health and environment label exposure. Additionally, post-exposure to labels resulted in a significant increase in frequency of mentions for general, social, spiritual, and emotional dimensions. The study outcome provided information on how labels influenced wellness perception, providing a positive experience for the consumers, but did not influence the overall liking of the product.