Using Sensory Science to Evaluate Consumer Acceptance of Recipes in a Nutrition Education Intervention for Limited Resource Populations

Abstract

ObjectiveThis study evaluated consumer acceptance of recipes in a nutrition education intervention and assessed participants’ intentions to change dietary behaviors. DesignStudy participants tasted and evaluated 16 recipes in the University of Georgia Food Talk curriculum using the 9-point hedonic scale and indicated their likelihood of engaging in behaviors to improve diet quality on a similar, ordinal scale. Setting and ParticipantsConvenience samples of 89 to 122 adult participants in the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program in Georgia evaluated each recipe. InterventionEight interactive nutrition education sessions in which study participants sampled and evaluated 2 recipes per session. Main Outcome MeasuresMean scores for overall liking of each recipe and likelihood of engaging in promoted behaviors to improve diet quality were outcomes of interest. AnalysisDescriptive statistics were generated. Relationships between overall liking of recipes and intention to engage in promoted behaviors were assessed with Spearman correlation coefficients. ResultsResults showed that 13 of the 16 recipes in the curriculum met criteria for acceptable sensory quality. Overall liking was significantly correlated with participants’ intentions to engage in behaviors to improve diet quality. Notable age- and sex-related differences were identified. Conclusions and ImplicationsEvaluations of consumer acceptance may be useful in interventions designed to improve diet quality through the introduction of new recipes as improving consumer acceptance of recipes may improve program outcomes.