Effect of Fiber Information on Consumer's Expectation and Liking of Wheat Bran Enriched Pasta

Abstract

AbstractThe need to promote a diet rich in wholegrain has been recognized as an important task in nutrition education. Despite this, the intake of fiber in Western countries is below the recommended 25 g per day. The aim of the study was to evaluate the impact of wheat bran addition on the sensory quality of durum wheat spaghetti and to evaluate the effect of fiber information on consumer's acceptability and expectation. Information about fiber content had a positive impact on consumer's expected product quality but only for bran addition equal or higher than 20%. Consumers completely assimilated their liking in the direction of expectations for spaghetti with 20 and 25% of bran addition. Assimilation was incomplete for the 30% added sample indicating that the health benefit of eating fiber did not compensate the decrease in liking. The effect of information varied according to consumers’ frequency consumption of bran‐enriched pasta. Non‐users showed a negative disconfirmation starting with a 20% bran addition, whereas for low‐ and high‐users disconfirmation occurred at a higher bran addition. A complete assimilation effect was seen only for non‐users, indicating that fiber information had an impact only for those consumers who actually do not consume wholegrain pasta.Practical ApplicationsConsumer‐led product development requires having a detailed understanding of what the consumer expects from a product. The findings of the present study provide information about the hedonic expectation and liking of pasta with high wheat bran content. Establishing the right balance between the expected health benefit of eating fiber and perceived product liking might be useful to food developers to increase fiber content in pasta formulations without sacrificing sensory attributes and pleasure.