Understanding consumer's perception and acceptance of bologna sausages with reduced sodium content and/or omega‐3 addition through conjoint analysis and focus group

Exploring Consumer Preferences and Challenges in Hybrid Meat Products: A Conjoint Analysis of Hotdogs

Plant-based meat has been the primary strategy to reducing meat consumption. While this category has demonstrated success, with the market value estimated to reach USD 20 billion by 2023, the subsequent reduction in meat consumption has not been proportionate. An alternative approach is hybrid products, which are thought to produce products that more closely resemble meat products. However, whether consumers will be willing to purchase hybrid products remains uncertain. Therefore, the present study uses a conjoint analysis approach to assess the product features driving the selection of a hybrid hotdog. This approach uncovers factors driving consumers' purchase intentions for hybrid meat products when offered as a choice against 100% plant-based and 100% beef products. In an online survey, participants (n = 454; 45.6% female) were asked to select the product they would be most willing to purchase, varying in four characteristics: protein source, price, fat content, and price. Following this task, participants answered questions related to meat attachment, food neophobia, health, ecological, social, and moral motives regarding food consumption. The results revealed that protein source was the most important factor driving product selection, followed by price, fat, and packaging claims (35%, 24%, 21%, and 20% relative importance, respectively). In this study, hybrid hotdogs were the least preferred to beef and plant-based (-16, -2.5, and 18 part-worth utility, respectively). These product-specific attributes (protein, fat, and price) had distinct relationships with the choices of hybrid, plant-based, and hybrid hotdogs, with these factors together explaining slightly more variability in the selection of hybrid (9%) compared to plant-based (7%) and beef hotdogs (4%). For hybrid hotdogs, protein had the greatest influence (B = -1.2) followed by fat (B = -0.8) and price (B = -0.5). Interestingly, person-related parameters (health, meat attachment, ethics, and food neophobia) had no relationship with the selection of hybrid hotdogs, contrary to plant-based (7%) and beef hotdogs (5%). This influence of the different parameters on the selection of hybrid meat is thought to be due to the lack of consumer knowledge and familiarity with hybrid products. The current understanding of plant-based products may not correspond to hybrid products. Engaging with consumers during the development of these products is critical to ensure consumer acceptance and thus support the transition to a more sustainable diet.

Sodium Replacement with KCl and MSG: Attitudes, Perception and Acceptance in Reduced Salt Soups

Sodium intake is linked to multiple negative health outcomes, particularly hypertension, the leading cause of premature death globally. Sodium intake levels in human populations are high, due in part to our desire for palatable salty-tasting foods. Two leading salt replacement strategies are the use of potassium chloride (KCl) and monosodium glutamate (MSG), the latter of which still contains some sodium, but both of which can replace some salty taste in foods while reducing net sodium levels. In this report, we employed a trained descriptive sensory panel to optimize saltiness in sodium-reduced aqueous samples using various concentrations of KCl and MSG. Following this, we assessed consumer attitudes to sodium-reduction strategies in a model food, canned soup, known to typically be high in sodium. Finally, in a large consumer test, we verified that these optimized levels of KCl and MSG did not lead to a drop in liking for the reduced-sodium soups with saltiness subsidized in this manner. Our results showed that sodium can be readily reduced in soups by 18% while actually scoring higher in liking, and in some cases being perceived as even more salty tasting, but that consumers are more open to sodium reduction in this manner when sodium replacements are not specifically highlighted, and when percentage sodium reduction is stated over absolute levels.

An Exploratory Study of the Purchase and Consumption of Beef: Geographical and Cultural Differences between Spain and Brazil

Beef consumption and production in Spain and Brazil are different with the consumption of beef in Brazil being three times higher than in Spain. In addition, there are variations in the economic value of production and in the traceability system. Therefore, the aim of this research was to understand the purchasing and consumption patterns using the customer behavior analysis technique of focus groups, which analyzed motivations for the consumption of beef, classifying their preferences by the intrinsic and extrinsic attributes at the time of purchase. The key aspect of the consumption of beef, both for Spanish and Brazilian consumers, was personal satisfaction/flavor. Spanish consumers were more conscious than Brazilians of the beneficial and harmful qualities that meat provides. The presence of fat was the factor that most restricted intake in both countries. The most important intrinsic attributes for Spanish and Brazilian consumers were the visual aspects of the meat: color, freshness, and the quantity and disposition of fat. The most important extrinsic characteristics were the price and expiration date. Spanish consumers see packaged meat as convenient and safe, although it is considered by Brazilians to be over-manipulated. The traceability certification on the label provides credibility to the product for the Spanish but only partially for Brazilians.

Consumer's perception and expected liking of labels of burgers with sodium reduction and addition of mushroom flavor enhancer

This study investigated consumers' perception of labels of burgers with sodium reduction and/or addition of mushroom flavor enhancer. Six visual stimuli were created using a factorial design with sodium content (regular, sodium-reduced, and sodium-reduced plus health claim) and flavor enhancer (monosodium glutamate (MSG) and mushroom extract) as factors. Consumers answered an attitudinal questionnaire and evaluated the stimuli through expected liking and check-all-that-apply (CATA) questions. Three consumers' clusters were identified, which associated positive attributes to labels of burgers with mushroom flavor enhancer and negative attributes to labels of MSG-burgers, regardless of sodium content. The main positive drivers of liking were "I would buy", "attractive", "innovative", "tasty", and "contain fewer additives", which were associated with burgers with mushroom flavor enhancer, while "contain additives", "processed", "artificial", "unhealthy", and "not attractive" were the negative drivers of liking that should be modified in a reformulation to increase liking. This study provides valuable information for the development of healthier burgers and their positioning in the market.

I Believe It Is Healthy-Impact of Extrinsic Product Attributes in Demonstrating Healthiness of Functional Food Products

Due to the high proportion of impulse purchases and the short time devoted to purchase decisions, packaging and other extrinsic attributes are becoming increasingly important in demonstrating the health benefits of a functional food item to consumers as plausibly as possible. Our research aims at identifying the role of extrinsic features (claims related to ingredients and health claims, organic or domestic origin, as well as the shape and color of packaging), gathered in the course of in-depth literature analysis, in the case of a functional smoothie. Our online consumer questionnaire was completed by 633 respondents, and the answers were assessed by choice based conjoint analysis. Our results show that each examined attribute plays a role in the assessment of health effects. The color blue has the biggest impact on making the consumer believe in the health benefits of the product. This is followed by the indication of organic origin, then the statement emphasizing the natural quality of the ingredients. The assessment of the specific extrinsic attributes is affected by consumers’ general health interest level, their involvement with food items, and their various demographic features.

Factors that Influence the Perceived Healthiness of Food-Review

The interest of consumers is the consumption of healthy food, whereas the interest of food manufacturers is that consumers recognize the produced “healthier” food items on the shelves, so they can satisfy their demands. This way, identifying the factors that influence the perceived healthiness of food products is a mutual interest. What causes consumers to consider one product more beneficial to health than another? In recent years, numerous studies have been published on the topic of the influence of several health-related factors on consumer perception. This analysis collected and categorized the research results related to this question. This review collects 59 articles with the help of the search engines Science Direct, Wiley Online Library, MDPI and Emerald Insight between 1 January 2014 and 31 March 2019. Our paper yielded six separate categories that influence consumers in their perception of the healthiness of food items: the communicated information—like FoP labels and health claims, the product category, the shape and colour of the product packaging, the ingredients of the product, the organic origin of the product, and the taste and other sensory features of the product.

Partial replacement of pork fat by Echium oil in reduced sodium bologna sausages: technological, nutritional and stability implications

BACKGROUND

The present research aimed to evaluate the nutritional, technological, microstructural and sensory characteristics of bologna sausages made with pork fat replaced with Echium oil. Three different treatments were processed, all of them with approximately 35% less sodium than a regular bologna-type sausage: Control (only pork backfat addition) and T25 and T50 (replacement of 25 and 50% of the added animal fat with Echium oil respectively).

RESULTS

Proximate composition, texture profile analysis, fatty acid profile and microstructure were evaluated to characterize the products. In refrigerated storage, the following characteristics were assessed: thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS) index, objective color, pH value, microbiological counts and sensory acceptance. Both samples with Echium oil (T25 and T50) showed a healthier lipid profile, with high omega-3 content, mainly from α-linolenic and stearidonic fatty acids, consequently presenting better (P ≤ 0.05) values of nutritional indices than the Control. However, the replacement of 50% animal fat with Echium oil negatively affected (P ≤ 0.05) most of the technological characteristics and the sensory acceptance of bolognas. In contrast, the treatment with 25% replacement did not show significant differences in most of the evaluated parameters compared with the Control sample.

CONCLUSION

Thus the replacement of 25% of pork backfat with Echium oil in bologna sausages can be recommended, representing a good balance between nutritional gains and sensory impairment. © 2019 Society of Chemical Industry.