Perception Of Food Products Research Articles

How Does Aversion to Insects Intersect with Sustainable Production and Consumption?

Abstract Damage by insect pests reduces the quantity and quality of harvestable food, making pest management a major challenge for sustainable food production. Perception of insects in association with food is known to cause negative emotions including disgust and fear. These negative emotional responses are likely to alter perception and reduce enjoyment of food. Here, we introduce the concept of insect pests and highlight some of the ways that pests reduce the quality and quantity of harvestable food. Next, we discuss the different sensory properties of food, emotional responses to food and how different factors can impact humans’ perception of food products. Finally, we share the results of our study where the intersection of disgust and sensory perception is explored through an exploration of the blueberry maggot ( Rhagoletis mendax ), a fly that lays eggs in ripening blueberries. Collectively this work demonstrates that merely learning about the existence of an insect pest negatively impacts the perception of fresh fruit, in terms of taste characteristics, and emotional response. These results reinforce the necessity of effective pest management to ensure that consumers maintain a positive affinity towards foods. Information © The Authors 2024

The role of free-from symbols on consumer perceptions of healthiness, quality and intention to buy baked food products

Little is known about the impact of “free-from” symbols on people’s consumption choices – particularly for controversial ingredients such as palm oil. We investigated how “free-from” symbols influence consumers’ perceptions of food products and whether the absence of an ingredient, whether real or fabricated, is seen as a sign of improved healthiness or quality. We conducted an experiment with a sample of 1215 adults representing the Italian population, showing them two products – crackers and sweet snacks – each with four different symbols. We created the “free-from CO2” and “free-from polyunsaturated fats” symbols, while “palm oil-free” and blank symbols were used for comparison. “free-from” symbols influence consumers’ perceptions of the food as being of better quality and healthiness, regardless of the ingredient removed. This symbol also influenced purchasing intentions. Consumers’ perceptions of the product were influenced by the “free-from” wording, rather than the type of ingredient or product presented.

The impact of salient labels and choice overload on sustainability judgments: An online experiment investigating consumers’ knowledge and overconfidence

Previous research suggests that contextual factors can affect the perception of food products, however, we still know little about how consumers evaluate these items in terms of sustainability. This research investigates how well shoppers can rate food items in the matter of their environmental impact, whether they are overconfident in their knowledge of food sustainability, and whether labels on packaging and great availability of choice can affect their judgment. Through an online behavioural experiment, we test the impact of salient truthful and untruthful green labels, and of choice overload on people’s perceptions of the environmental quality of food products. We find that choice overload is detrimental to consumers’ judgment, but that truthful labels can help shoppers correctly identify sustainable items. However, untruthful labels can negatively impact consumers’ judgments with choice overload, even if shoppers have greater prior knowledge of sustainability. These findings suggest that truthful and untruthful salient labels and choice overload can have an impact on shoppers’ perceptions of food products. We find that overconfidence in one’s sustainability judgment is negatively correlated to judgment accuracy. Hence, great care should be taken in presenting food products to consumers to make the most environmentally friendly items stand out.

The perception of food products in adolescents, lay adults, and experts: A psychometric approach.

Almost 40% of global mortality is attributable to an unhealthy diet, and adolescents and young adults are particularly affected by growing obesity rates. How do (young) people conceptualize and judge the healthiness of foods and how are the judgments embedded in people's mental representations of the food ecology? We asked respondents to rate a large range of common food products on a diverse set of characteristics and then applied the psychometric paradigm to identify the dimensions structuring people's mental representations of the foods. Respondents were also asked to rate each food in terms of its healthiness, and we used the foods' scores on the extracted dimensions to predict the healthiness judgments. We compared three groups of respondents: adolescents, lay adults, and nutrition experts. Naturalness levels (e.g., processing, artificial additives) and cholesterol and protein content emerged as the two central dimensions structuring respondents' mental representations of the foods. Relative to the other two groups, the adolescents' representations were less differentiated. Judged food healthiness was determined by multiple factors, but naturalness was the strongest predictor across all groups. Overall, the adolescents' responses showed considerable heterogeneity, suggesting a lack of solid food knowledge and the need for tailored nutrition education on specific food products and content characteristics. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Do Fair Trade Labels Bias Consumers’ Perceptions of Food Products? A Comparison between a Central Location Test and Home-Use Test

Consumers are paying more and more attention to ethical and social criteria during grocery shopping. As a result, Fair Trade products which are certified to address global supply chain issues (e.g., forced labor, working conditions, fair pay), are gaining popularity. However, it is unclear to which extent Fair Trade labels might influence how consumers perceive such labelled food products. The aim of this research was to examine the potential effect of Fair Trade labels on several measurements (overall liking, sensory profiling, emotions, willingness-to-pay and kCal estimations). Furthermore, tests were carried out at a sensory lab and at home to examine if the evaluation context might impact the label effect. In total, 179 consumers participated in this study of which 90 carried out the test in the sensory test facilities (central location test—CLT) and 89 at home (home-use-test—HUT). Participants evaluated three pairs of food products (nuts, juice and chocolate) of which one was labelled as conventional and the other one as Fair Trade. However, participants were each time evaluating the same Fair Trade product. Results showed that the Fair Trade label increased the overall liking. For the juice and chocolate, a higher willingness-to-pay was found when the product was labelled as ‘Fair Trade’ while no effect of the label was established for the nuts. The Fair Trade label did not affect the kcal estimation of the samples. The Fair Trade label had a rather limited influence on the sensory and emotional profiling of the food products. Furthermore, the results of the CLT and HUT were highly similar indicating that the evaluation context has little impact on the labelling effect.

On the Mechanics of the Organic Label Effect: How Does Organic Labeling Change Consumer Evaluation of Food Products?

The literature on the effect of organic labels on consumers’ perception of food products has grown significantly over the last two decades. Since the number of empirical studies has also increased greatly, a literature review revealing the operational definitions of the organic label effect (OLE), which have evolved among researchers, has become necessary. Accordingly, in the current article, 82 studies are reviewed. It was found that studies cluster around two interpretations: they define the OLE either as a change in the evaluation of a given product or as a change in the evaluation of the difference between an organic and a conventional product resulted from organic labeling. We term the first approach the absolute OLE and the latter the relative OLE. Our analysis shows that, when applied separately, these two interpretations might lead to significantly different measurement results, but they can be merged into one concept. We argue that organic labeling affects not only the evaluation of products receiving the organic label but the evaluation of competing products without such a label as well. We reveal that the relative OLE is equivalent to the difference between the absolute effects of organic labeling on the labeled and on the unlabeled products.

The Effect of Labelling and Visual Properties on the Acceptance of Foods Containing Insects.

Introducing insects as a source of nutrients (e.g., protein) plays a key role in many countries’ environmental policies. However, westerners generally reject insects as an ingredient of food products and meals. The aim of our study was to assess if explicitly labelling food as containing insects and/or implying it by manipulating the appearance of food influences the participants’ perception of food products or their behavioral reaction to such products. Participants were asked to try a range of foods, none of which contained ingredients derived from insects. However, the experimental conditions varied with regard to food labelling (insect content) and appearance (traces of insect-like ingredients). We observed the participants’ non-verbal behavioral reactions to the foods. Next, the respondents filled in a questionnaire evaluating the food’s properties. Additionally, we asked the participants to fill in a set of questionnaires measuring other variables (food neophobia, disgust, variety seeking, etc.) The results showed that products labelled as containing insects are consumed with reluctance and in lower quantities despite their appearance. In addition, people with lower general neophobia and a higher tendency to seek variety tried the insect-labelled samples sooner than people from the other groups. Recommendations for marketing strategies are provided.

English

People’s perception of food products during food choice is a very complex phenomenon that is influenced by a wide range of characteristics that an individual, groups and local communities make. This study investigated nutritional status and associated motives of food choice among lactating women from Debre Birhan Town. Anthropometric measurements and motives of food choice questionnaire were administered among 423 randomly selected women using cross-sectional study. Data was analyzed via SPSS version 20. Associated drivers of food choice to nutritional status of women were identified by logistic regression analysis, and p-value < 0.05 was taken as statistically significant. Prevalence of chronic energy deficiency was 21.7%. From multivariate logistic regression model, healthy meal eating motivation, price and mood concern were identified as most significant drivers of food choice influencing nutritional status of women with AOR (95% CI) of 2.1 (1.21-3.62), 3.01(1.32-6.9) and 0.5(0.30-0.95) respectively. Focus on supporting women’s motivations to attain their good health by addressing issues of dietary behavior through nutrition education about healthy food choice is recommended. Since awareness creation is an important to inspire women, their families and communities to increase food intake, proper dietary practices and dietary diversification in order to be successful in improving the livelihood of women. Key words: Nutritional status, motives, food choice, lactating women. &nbsp

Peculiarities of transformation of Slavic ornaments in the modern packaging of food products

Recent decades are characterized by the heightened interest towards the Russian traditional culture. Among the markers of ethnic hue of an art object or a product, special place belongs to the ornament. The article examines the problems of development, transformation and adaptation to modern conditions of the traditional Slavic ornament used in design of packaging. The object of this research is the graphic element placed on the most popular lines of generally accessible food products featured in the chain supermarkets. The choice is substantiated by the general accessibility, mass production of the goods and its wide regional coverage, which ensures maximal interaction with the Russian consumer. It is established that the elements of Slavic ornament are widely used in design of packaging of food products. Preference of manufacturers is given to the elements of Khokhloma and Gzhel painting as most famous and brand-named Russian traditional crafts. The author observes the active search for color, compositional and thematic solutions, which testifies on its inevitable adaptation and transformation of traditional elements, as well as points at their problems in preparation of specialists in the area of design, who at time are not familiar with the semantic-conceptual field of the used ornaments. This leads to the occurrence of associative dissonance in perception of food products and their packaging. Utilization of the traditional ornament in this applied sphere is one of the ways for preservation and development of national culture, which forms an essential associative layer in public consciousness and requires careful application.

Factors influencing the purchase of green milk

The presented study explores the nature of factors that facilitate the purchase of “green milk”, which serves as the most appropriate term for defining environmental and organic milk of animal and vegetable origin.Aim. The study aims to identify factors that affect the indicators of disposition towards purchasing green milk.Tasks. By summarizing previous studies, the authors put together a set of factors influencing green consumer behavior, conduct an empirical assessment of the impact of these factors, and specify the criteria for facilitating an environmental perception of food products by the consumer.Methods. This study is based on empirical quantitative-qualitative research. Its qualitative section involves a series of semi-structured interviews aimed at gaining insights. The quantitative section is processed in IBM SPSS 23.0 using а regression analysis. Alpha level 10 % is chosen as the p-value. The respondents are selected using the snowball method with allowance for the niche component. Some respondents are micro-influencers running their own blogs, active on social media, and managing digital communities. From the age perspective, the respondents include millenials living in the capital of the Russian Federation (born in 1982-2000, according to V.V. Radaev) [1]. According to Nielsen, the consumption of organic products by millenials increased by 14 % in 2018, which makes them the fastest growing consumer segment in the eco-market. Moscow accounts for 70% of the Russian ecomarket [2]. Based on the above, the examined group of respondents can be regarded as innovators and early supporters of the emerging green milk market.Results. Literature analysis reveals factors that could potentially affect green consumer behavior. The constructed regression model shows health concerns to be the main motive for buying green products. Despite certain difficulties in distinguishing between the terms “ecological” and “organic” in the context of the topic, it is established that milk (of vegetable and farm origin) can be both ecological and organic. The majority of consumers of these products are women. The key factors that consumers pay attention to when choosing environmental or organic food products are ingredients and eco-labels.Conclusions. Based on the obtained results, marketers working with green products should focus on their health benefits. Ingredients and eco-labels are the key criteria for identifying a product as green. Therefore, it is necessary to provide information about the health benefits of the ingredients on the packaging, and it also advisable to put an eco-label. The results of the study make it obvious that consumers cannot tell the difference between official and non-official certification marks on green products. Thus, such words as green, organic, vegan, eco may not increase sales, but will help define the product as green. When developing a marketing communication strategy, it is necessary to keep in mind that women are the target audience in most cases. A potential business opportunity that deserves attention is organic products for men’s health, which will help to differentiate a new product.

Influence of Being Embodied in an Obese Virtual Body on Shopping Behavior and Products Perception in VR.

Research in Virtual Reality (VR) showed that embodiment can influence participants' perceptions and behavior when embodied in a different yet plausible virtual body. In this paper, we study the changes an obese virtual body has on products perception (e.g., taste, etc.) and purchase behavior (e.g., number purchased) in an immersive virtual retail store. Participants (of a normal BMI on average) were embodied in a normal (N) or an obese (OB) virtual body and were asked to buy and evaluate food products in the immersive virtual store. Based on stereotypes that are classically associated with obese people, we expected that the group embodied in obese avatars would show a more unhealthy diet, (i.e., buy more food products and also buy more products with high energy intake, or saturated fat) and would rate unhealthy food as being tastier and healthier than participants embodied in “normal weight” avatars. Our participants also rated the perception of their virtual body: the OB group perceived their virtual body as significantly heavier and older. They also rated their sense of embodiment and presence within the immersive virtual store. These measures did not show any significant difference between groups. Finally, we asked them to rate different food products in terms of tastiness, healthiness, sustainability and price. The only difference we noticed is that participants embodied in an obese avatar (OB group) rated the coke as being significantly tastier and the apple as being significantly healthier. Nevertheless, while we hypothesized that participants embodied in a virtual body with obesity would show differences in their shopping patterns (e.g., more “unhealthy” products bought) there were no significant differences between the groups. Stereotype activation failed for our participants embodied in obese avatars, who did not exhibit a shopping behavior following the (negative) stereotypes related to obese people. conversely, while the opposite hypothesis (participants embodied in obese avatars would buy significantly more healthy products in order to “transform” their virtual bodies) could have been made, it was not the case either. We discuss these results and propose hypotheses as to why the behavior of the manipulated group differed from the one we expected. Indeed, unlike previous research, our participants were embodied in virtual avatars which differed greatly from their real bodies. Obese avatars should not only modify users' visual characteristics such as hair or skin color, etc. We hypothesize that an obese virtual body may require some other non-visual stimulus, e.g., the sensation of the extra weight or the change in body size. This main difference could then explain why we did not notice any important modification on participants' behavior and perceptions of food products. We also hypothesize that the absence of stereotype activation and thus of statistical difference between our N and OB groups might be due to higher-level cognitive processes involved while purchasing food products. Indeed our participants might have rejected their virtual bodies when performing the shopping task, while the embodiment and presence ratings did not show significant differences, and purchased products based on their real (non-obese) bodies. This could mean that stereotype activation is more complex that previously thought.

Influence of organic labels on consumer's flavor perception and emotional profiling: Comparison between a central location test and home-use-test

Organic food products are often perceived as healthier by consumers, but the question remains if organic labels might influence consumer's perception of specific sensory attributes and emotional associations and to which extent this effect goes beyond the lab context. Therefore, the objective of this study was to examine the potential effects of organic labels on the overall liking and emotional and sensory profiling, comparing measurements obtained from a CLT and HUT test.In this study, 76 consumers participated at a central location test (CLT) and 75 during a home-use-test (HUT) to examine the effect of organic labeling on pairs of three food products (i.e. yogurt, potato chips and juice). While the same food product was used, one sample of the pair was labelled as conventional and the other as organic.Results showed that providing an organic label leads to a higher overall liking, willingness to pay and lower kcal estimation of a food product regardless of the evaluation context. Also, the perception of sensory attributes was altered by providing the organic labeling, but mainly for the juice and yogurt sample. Moreover, organic labeling evoked more positive emotions and less negative emotions of the food products.While previous research indicated that organic labeling might affect consumer's perception of food products, this study shows that this effect is consistent regardless of the evaluation context (HUT and CLT). Although some context effects occurred on the emotional profiling of the food products, more research is warranted given the different eating conditions when conducting HUT. Furthermore, policy makers should be aware of the health halo effect as consumers tend to significantly lower the kcal estimations when an organic label is provided.

European consumer healthiness evaluation of ‘Free-from’ labelled food products

This study aimed to find out how “free-from labelling” shapes consumers’ perception of food products and whether the absence of an ingredient is considered an indicator of improved nutritional value of the product. An online survey was conducted in four European countries: the United Kingdom, Sweden, Poland, and France (overall N = 1950). Four “free-from labels” (lactose-free, gluten-free, GMO-free, and palm oil-free) were tested using different product categories that these labels typically appear on. Healthiness perception was evaluated by comparing products with the free-from labels to identical products without the labels. Potential predictors for healthiness evaluation and intention to pay a price premium were assessed, including nutrition knowledge, information-seeking on food packages, preference for food naturalness, general health interest, trust in actors in the food domain, and affect regarding the absent ingredients. Products with a free-from label were considered healthier than products without such a label, with the strongest effects occurring for labels indicating that products were free of GMOs and free of palm oil. Some differences were observed among countries in the evaluation of the product-label combinations. Information-seeking, nutrition knowledge, and affect were significant predictors of healthiness evaluation. Furthermore, healthiness evaluation, information-seeking, nutrition knowledge, and preference for naturalness predicted intention to pay a price premium for products labelled free-from. When shaping consumers’ food shopping behaviour using certain food labels, it is important to know how consumers interpret those labels. A false interpretation of labels might lead to unintended changes in consumer behaviour.

Impact of front-of-pack nutrition information and label design on children's choice of two snack foods: Comparison of warnings and the traffic-light system

Research on the relative influence of package features on children's perception of food products is still necessary to aid policy design and development. The aim of the present work was to evaluate the relative influence of two front-of-pack (FOP) nutrition labelling schemes, the traffic light system and Chilean warning system, and label design on children's choice of two popular snack foods in Uruguay, wafer cookies and orange juice. A total of 442 children in grades 4 to 6 from 12 primary schools in Montevideo (Uruguay) participated in the study. They were asked to complete a choice-conjoint task with wafer cookies and orange juice labels, varying in label design and the inclusion of FOP nutrition information. Half of the children completed the task with labels featuring the traffic-light system (n = 217) and the other half with labels featuring the Chilean warning system (n = 225). Children's choices of wafer cookies and juice labels was significantly influenced by both label design and FOP nutritional labels. The relative impact of FOP nutritional labelling on children's choices was higher for the warning system compared to the traffic-light system. Results from the present work stress the need to regulate the design of packages and the inclusion of nutrient claims, and provide preliminary evidence of the potential of warnings to discourage children's choice of unhealthful products.

Why a ‘light’ product package should not be light blue: Effects of package colour on perceived healthiness and attractiveness of sugar- and fat-reduced products

Healthier foods (e.g. ‘light’ products with low fat or sugar content) often lead to lower hedonic evaluation and decreased satiating properties, putting these products at a sensory disadvantage compared to their regular counterparts. Nudging consumers towards healthy foods by making healthy foods more attractive may facilitate healthier food choices. Package colour communicates product properties and could be used to make a healthy product more attractive. Healthier alternatives are typically packaged in less vibrantly coloured, watered-down packages compared to their regular counterparts. Does this communicate the intended message?To investigate effects of package colour on perceived healthiness, attractiveness and sensory expectations and perception of food products both explicitly and implicitly.We investigated effects of package hue (green/purple, blue, red), brightness and saturation on expected (experiment 1) and perceived (experiment 2) product properties after tasting, for a low-sugar dairy drink (n=148) and low-fat sausage (n=140). Implicit Association Tests (IATs) were used to measure strength of associations between package colouring cues and perceived attractiveness and healthiness of the products.Effects of package colour were stronger for sensory expectations than for perceptions after tasting. A combination of colour properties (hue, brightness and/or saturation) rendered packaging more attractive and increased sensory evaluation. Implicitly, watered-down coloured ‘healthier’ package versions were strongly associated with healthiness whereas ‘regular’ packages were strongly associated with attractiveness.Packaging healthier alternatives in warmer, saturated, less bright coloured packages (more similar to regular products) explicitly enhances sensory expectations and perceptions, and implicitly improves attractiveness, potentially making them more appealing to consumers.

Influence of label design on children’s perception of two snack foods: Comparison of rating and choice-based conjoint analysis

The contribution of package design to the marketing of food products targeted at children has increased in the last years, which makes it necessary to study how label design affects children’s perception of food products in order to inform policy design and development. Considering that methodological selection is one of the major challenges when conducting research with children, the present work aimed at comparing rating and choice-based conjoint to study the influence of three design variables (cartoon characters, nutrition claims and traffic-light system) on the hedonic reaction of school-aged children towards labels of two popular snack foods: yogurt and sponge cake. A total of 238 children in grades 1–6 from a private primary school in Montevideo (Uruguay) participated in the study. Participants were divided into two groups of similar size who performed either a rating or a choice-based conjoint task. The rating-based conjoint involved the evaluation of 8 labels using a hedonic scale, whereas in the choice task children had to select the label they would like the most from each of 8 pairs of labels. None of the variables was found to significantly affect children’s hedonic scores in the rating-based conjoint analysis. On the contrary, choice-based conjoint proved to be easily understood and enabled to discriminate among labels. Results from this approach showed that the inclusion of cartoon characters and nutrition claims positively influenced children’s preferences. Implications for research and policy making in label design for children are discussed.

Adolescents’ perception of the healthiness of snacks

Changes in snacking habits in developed countries are a growing cause for concern, since foods and beverages commonly consumed as snacks, tend to be both energy dense and nutrient poor. Adolescents are characterised by frequent snack consumption. Therefore, promoting more healthful snack choices to adolescents is important for optimising nutrient intake and lowering the risk of chronic disease.The ability to evaluate the healthiness of snacks is essential to making healthy choices. Previous research has shown that health claims can influence consumers’ perceptions of food products. However, little is yet known about consumers’ perceptions of how nutritious or healthy specific foods or beverages are. This knowledge is important for planning successful interventions and designing healthy snacks that will also appeal to population groups with a higher dietary risk, including adolescents.The aim was to investigate how adolescents evaluate the healthiness of snacks currently available for consumption in school environments. Seventy-five adolescents participated in a sorting task and evaluated the healthiness of 37 representative snacks.The data were analysed using hierarchical multiple regression and cluster analysis. The sugar (β=−.51, P<.001), fruit (β=.49, P<.001), total fat (β=−.41, P=.002) and nut content (β=.35, P=.002) were significant predictors of snacks’ perceived healthiness.The findings of this study are important for tailoring future interventions to promote healthy eating and setting priorities for nutrition education.

Droplet deformation and break-up under shear: Hydrocolloid solution vs. suspension of starch granules

Shear induced deformation and rupture of two types of droplets, hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC) aqueous solution and modified waxy maize suspension, were studied and compared using a counter-rotating rheo-optical set-up. The motivation of the work was to explain the difference observed in flavour perception of food products thickened by these two fluids. A droplet of either fluid was placed into silicon oil and deformation and break-up were monitored as a function of applied shear stress and strain. It was found that starch suspension droplets broke up at lower deformation stress and strain than HPMC solution droplets despite viscosity ratio and capillary number suggesting the opposite. It is hypothesised that the ease with which droplets thickened by starch break-up is responsible for their rapid mixing with saliva.

Applying the evaluability principle to nutrition table information. How reference information changes people's perception of food products

Consumers often neglect or misinterpret nutrition table information. We argue in this paper that this can be explained by the evaluability principle, which posits that people's evaluation of a product corresponds to a greater degree with the product's actual value when people receive reference information about the product than when they do not get this information. We tested this assumption concerning nutrition table information in two studies. In Study 1, respondents received one of six nutrition tables that differed on reference and summary information about either yogurt or chocolate. In the second study, we compared three nutrition tables from the previous study, as applied to either a low nutritional value yogurt or a high nutritional value yogurt. Participants were asked to rate the attractiveness and perceived healthiness of the product in both studies. Results indicated that reference information can change people's product perception. This seems to depend, however, on the product's nutritional value and on people's primary connotation for the product. In sum, the evaluability principle can explain people's perception of a food product. A nutrition table that is adapted to this principle appears to influence people's product perception so that it becomes more in line with its nutritional value. Implications for practice and further research are given.

Consumer Perceptions of Food Products Labeled with Quantitative Ingredient Declaration

Consumer Perceptions of Food Products Labeled with Quantitative Ingredient Declaration