Effect of product formula, information and consumer characteristics on the acceptance of a new snack food

Abstract

The acceptance of a new food `yosa' (fermented oat bran pudding, similar to flavored yogurt or porridge) was examined among young ( n = 44) and elderly ( n = 19) subjects. The samples were sweetened at low or high levels of sucrose and flavored with plum or wildberry jam (four combinations). The subjects rated the expected and actual pleasantness, purchase interest and the extent to which they would recommend the product to friends. Half of each age group was told that samples were `low-calorie' while the other half was told they were `high-fiber'. The subjects' food neophobia score was determined. Overall, the elderly liked all samples better than the young, and the young favored the wildberry over the plum samples. The higher sucrose level was preferred over the lower one. `Neophilic' subjects had higher purchase interest than `neophobic' subjects. The elderly rated their purchase interest and recommendation to friends higher when informed of high fiber content, compared to the information of low calorie content. The results demonstrate that the acceptance of a new product is affected by various factors that operate either on their own (e.g. sucrose level; age group) or in combination with other product, consumer or context based variables (e.g. type of information × age group; type of flavor × age group × food neophobia).