Effect of institutional sensory test location and consumer attitudes on acceptance of foods and beverages having different levels of processing

Abstract

New food products aimed at delivering specific nutritional requirements must also be subjected to sensory tests to guarantee high acceptance. The effect of information on sensory perception of foods is widely studied and the types of information often investigated are category, nutrition information, composition, product knowledge, applied technology and price. Several studies showed significant effects on acceptance and purchase intention. However, there is a lack of research on the effect of the location of sensory evaluation laboratories, an important variable given that most sensory evaluation laboratories are located in universities and research centers. In this context, two institutional locations were chosen in order to test their influence on consumer acceptance (n=130): Chemistry Location (School of Chemistry, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro) and Nutrition Location (School of Nutrition, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro State). The main hypothesis was that consumer acceptance might be significantly influenced by the institutional location where the sensory evaluation took place. Other hypotheses tested were: Does the degree of processing of the product impact the location effect? Does the degree of processing impact consumers’ attitudes? Among other findings, PLS regression showed that the acceptance of the highly processed food was significantly (p<0.05) lower when tested at the Nutrition Location. This is possibly due to the fact that consumers do not expect an institution like the Nutrition Location to perform a test with a highly processed food product. Results suggest that sensory evaluation laboratories located in nutrition related institutions should take into consideration the degree of processing of the products that will be tested with consumers. Other variables found to be significant decreasing the acceptance of a highly processed food were “Pleasure”, “Interest in natural products” (Health and Taste Attitude Scale) and age.