Total food experience: implicit measures to study the effects of point of sale, ingredient specification, preparation and taste on consumer food acceptance.

Samenvatting

Food experiences are based not only on the food’s taste, but also on factors such as point of purchase, packaging and preparation. Trends such as increased transparency regarding food composition, ingredient sourcing, and processing technologies used acknowledge the multitude of factors that shape food experiences. Methods are needed to monitor not only consumer reactions to foods once it is put in the mouth, but also reactions to pre-consumption phases. Systematic studies of the effects of phases on food experiences are currently lacking and difficult to conduct in real-life. We studied reactions of 31 participants to five test foods in two 1-hr laboratory sessions during four phases of typical food-consumer interactions: 1) in-store product positioning (regular or sustainable), 2) ingredient specification (regular, upcycled from side streams, by-product, or new, 3) food preparation (shown or not shown), and 4) tasting of the food. Phases 1-3 were standardized with text and images. During phase 4 the participants tasted the foods. Reactions to the food’s taste were measured explicitly with questionnaires and implicitly with physiological (heart rate and skin conductance) and expressive (facial expressions) measures. Results showed that 1) foods positioned as sustainable at the point of sale, resulted in increased arousal and more negative facial expressions during tasting (p<0.01). 2) The believe that foods contained upcycled, by-product or new ingredients reduced sweetness or saltiness scores during tasting (p<0.01), and triggered food-specific effects on arousal and facial expressions (p<0.01). 3) Showing the preparation triggered food-specific effects on arousal and facial expressions (p<0.01). Combined, these results suggest that a multi-phase consumer journey can be successfully recreated in the laboratory. Each phase, from point of sale to preparation, contributed to taste experiences. Understanding the contributions of the different phases by such a study is necessary to develop strategies to increase consumer acceptance of healthier and/or more sustainable foods.