Sustainability and organic production: How information influences consumer’s expectation and preference for yogurt

The purposes of this experimental study are to investigate consumers’ attitude and general knowledge about sustainability; to evaluate how information about organic production may affect consumers’ food acceptability and expectations; to establish whether and how much commitment to sustainability influences individuals’ preferences for organic products. Results showed that consumers are aware of the sustainability concept, but they are not able to define it precisely thus indicating that sustainability is a widespread issue in individuals’ mind. This was confirmed also by the lack of information perceived by respondents about sustainable products. When subjects were grouped according to their sustainability level, the majority of them (74%) were defined as ‘‘uncertain’’. A major difference was found between ‘‘sustainable’’ and ‘‘non-sustainable’’ individuals in the attitude, purchase intentions, and behaviors as regarding organic products. Sustainable subjects were more interested in and proactive for such products. This behavioral discrepancy is in line with the liking gap for organic products found between the two groups. Indeed, when organic and conventional yogurts were evaluated for liking in blind, expected and informed conditions, sustainable subjects had a higher expectation towards organic yogurt than non-sustainable individuals. Furthermore, non-sustainable subjects expressed lower expectations from organic samples than from conventional ones, whereas the opposite behavior was observed in Sustainable subjects. Only for sustainable and uncertain subjects, organic yogurts produced negative disconfirmation, which was associated with an incomplete assimilation effect. Hence, the information about yogurt’s organic origin may affect people’s expectations, and this influence is especially found in the case of respondents which are committed to sustainability or are uncertain about this issue as compared to non-sustainable individual

Profiling Individual Differences in Alcoholic Beverage Preference and Consumption: New Insights from a Large-Scale Study

Alcoholic beverage consumption plays an important role in European culture, and in many contexts drinking alcohol is socially acceptable and considered part of the diet. Understanding the determinants of alcohol preference and consumption is important not only for disease prevention, intervention, and policy management, but also for market segmentation, product development, and optimization. The aim of the study was to investigate the effect of individual responsiveness to various oral sensations on self-reported liking and intake of 14 alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages (including beers, wines, spirits, and cocktails) considering gender, age, and oral responsiveness (measured through response to 6-n-propyl-2-thiouracil -PROP, basic tastes, astringency, and pungency) in a large sample of Italian consumers. Data were collected from 2388 respondents (age range 18\u201360 years; mean age = 37.6, SD = 13.1; 58.2% women). These results indicate that notwithstanding the strong gender difference, with women generally liking and consuming fewer alcoholic beverages than men, liking patterns in the two genders were similar. Three liking patterns for different alcoholic beverages largely driven by orosensory properties were identified in both genders. \u201cSpirit-lovers\u201d constituted the smallest group (12%), consumed alcoholic beverages of any kind (not only spirits) more than the other segments, and were mainly men aged 30\u201345. \u201cBeer/wine lovers\u201d (44%) were the oldest group with no difference by gender. \u201cMild-drink lovers\u201d (44%) liked alcoholic drinks with intense sweet taste and/or mixers that moderate ethanol perception. They were mainly women, aged 18\u201329, had a lower consumption of alcohol, and a higher orosensory responsiveness than the other two groups. The results also suggest the opportunity to develop personalized recommendations towards specific consumer segments based not only on socio-demographics but considering also perceptive variables. Finally, our data suggest that increased burning and bitterness from alcohol may act as a sensory hindrance to alcoholic beverage overconsumption

Correction: Endrizzi et al. Relationships between Intensity and Liking for Chemosensory Stimuli in Food Models: A Large-Scale Consumer Segmentation (Foods 2022, 11, 5)

This study, which was conducted as part of the Italian Taste project, was aimed at exploring the relationship between actual liking and sensory perception in four food models. Each food model was spiked with four levels of prototypical tastant (i.e., citric acid, sucrose, sodium chloride, capsaicin) to elicit a target sensation (TS) at an increasing perceived intensity. Participants (N = 2258; 59% women, aged 18–60) provided demographic information, a stated liking for 40 different foods/beverages, and their responsiveness to tastants in water. A food-specific Pearson’s coefficient was calculated individually to estimate the relationship between actual liking and TS responsiveness. Considering the relationship magnitude, consumers were grouped into four food-specific clusters, depending on whether they showed a strong negative (SNC), a weak negative (WNC), a weak positive (WPC), or a strong positive correlation (SPC). Overall, the degree of liking raised in parallel with sweetness responsiveness, fell as sourness and pungency perception increased, and showed an inverted U-shape relationship with saltiness. The SNC clusters generally perceived TSs at higher intensities, except for sourness. Clusters were validated by associating the level of stated liking towards food/beverages; however, some unexpected indications emerged: adding sugar to coffee or preferring spicy foods differentiated those presenting positive correlations from those showing negative correlations. Our findings constitute a step towards a more comprehensive understanding of food preference

Study of the subjective affective meaning and motivational aspects towards extra virgin olive oil

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Sensory descriptors, hedonic perception and consumer\u2019s attitudes to Sangiovese red wine deriving from organically and conventionally grown grapes.

In recent years, consumers have become increasingly concerned by the effects of conventional agricultural production practices on both human and environmental health. Production obtained from organic farming methods has been rapidly increasing in developed countries. This may be explained by the fact that organic food adequately meets all requirements for quality, genuineness and healthiness by consumers. Among organic food products, wine has also aroused a large interest, although, in this segment, it comes last in a consumer's preference scale. This study was carried out to compare organically and conventionally grown Sangiovese di Romagna PDO wines from two successive vintages using sensory descriptors and instrumental parameters. PCA was used in order to assess sensory and chemico-physical differences between samples. Results showed that both instrumental and sensory indices significantly explained the differences between wines. Samples from different vintages were clearly distinguished. Conventional wines from vintage 2007 showed a stronger Bitter taste, Woody, Spicy and Vanilla Aroma as well as a higher volatile acidity than organic wines, whereas conventional and organic wines from vintage 2008 were similar and showed high free anthocyan content and strong Fruity Flavor. Consumer\u2019s attitudes towards organic wine were also investigated through a questionnaire related to wine consumption habits and organic food purchase intention. It was shown that 61% of respondents would be willing to pay 10-20% more for organically produced wines, suggesting that environmentally sustainable practices related to wine quality have good market prospects

Comportamenti di consumo alimentare e dieta mediterranea. Una ricerca nelle famiglie dell'area metropolitana di Milano

Introduzione La dieta mediterranea è un modello alimentare che caratterizza uno stile di vita e cultura che è stato segnalato per contribuire a una migliore salute e qualità della vita per coloro che aderiscono ad essa (UNESCO, 2010). Obiettivo e metodo L'obiettivo è assegnare la popolazione metropolitana milanese a gruppi omogenei al fine di pianificare mirati programmi di educazione alimentare e campagne di comunicazione. Lo scopo di questa ricerca interdisciplinare è verificare la solidità della segmentazione della popolazione in base all’aderenza alla dieta mediterranea, allo stile di vita alimentare e al BMI sia dei genitori che dei figli. I soggetti coinvolti sono bambini frequentanti la scuola primaria (6-11 anni) e i loro genitori che vivono nel comune di Milano. Lo strumento utilizzato è un questionario costruito sulla base della letteratura sui comportamenti di consumo delle famiglie con bambini in età scolare secondo un approccio di psicologia del consumatore e dalla letteratura epidemiologica (Sahingoz et al., 2011); il questionario, consegnato ai bambini durante l’orario scolastico, è auto compilato da parte dei genitori (N=1900). Risultati Da un’analisi preliminare emergono notevoli differenze tra le differenti nazionalità presenti nel territorio urbano in termini di aderenza alla dieta mediterranea, comportamento di consumo alimentare e stili di vita. I dati permettono anche di spiegare le principali differenze motivazionali nella scelta alimentare delle famiglie in funzione della loro provenienza geo-culturale e anni di presenza in Italia. Conclusioni Le implicazioni applicative possono interessare soprattutto le autorità pubbliche e tutti i soggetti coinvolti nella ricerca e nella definizione di politiche di integrazione e di benessere collettivo