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Abstract: When evaluating the acceptability of food products, companies often focus on specific demographics for recruiting and screening consumers. However, this information may not necessarily explain the variability in the test results. Other elements, such as consumer psychographic profiles, may help better understand test participants’ responses. The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of food neophobia (reluctance to/avoidance of novel foods) on acceptability of novel food items. Six salad dressings with novel flavor combinations were chosen for evaluation in a central location test. Consumers were screened using the food neophobia scale () as well as liking of salad dressings. Each subject evaluated three of six dressings for hedonic and diagnostic attributes. Neophobic subjects rated the salad dressings significantly lower (p <0.05) than neophilics for all hedonic attributes with the exception of appearance. These results were consistent for all dressings. However, when looking at the hedonic mean scores from both groups, the products were ranked in similar order in that the best liked and least liked dressing for the neophilic group was the same as those for the neophobic group. For diagnostic attributes, while the mean scores were significantly different for neophobics and neophilics, the percentage of “just-about-right” scores did not differ. These results suggest that food neophobia may impact the degree with which a product is liked or disliked by consumers, but it may not affect how products are ranked based on hedonic mean scores. Therefore, while understanding the psychographic composition of a consumer test respondent base may help explain why some products score higher or lower in acceptability, it may not alter the sensory guidance provided to product development regarding the specific flavor and texture attributes that were tested. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Laboratory data with single exposures showed that palatability has a positive relationship with food intake. The question addressed in this study is whether this relationship also holds over repeated exposures in non-laboratory contexts in more natural environments. The data were collected in four field studies, lasting 4–11 days with 307 US Army men and 119 Army women, and comprised 5791 main meals and 8831 snacks in total. Acceptability was rated on the nine point hedonic scale, and intake was registered in units of 1/4, 1/2, 3/4, or 1 or more times of the provided portion size. Correlation coefficients between individual acceptability ratings and intakes varied from 0.22 to 0.62 for the main meals (n=193–2267), and between 0.13 and 0.56 for the snacks (n=304–2967). The likelihood of choosing a meal for the second time was positively related to the acceptability rating of the meal when it was consumed for the first time. The results reinforce the importance of liking in food choice and food intake/choice behavior. However, the magnitude of the correlation coefficients between acceptability ratings and food intake suggest that environmental factors also have an important role in determining intake and choice. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Twenty years of testing in the field has consistently revealed that food intake is inadequate when packaged military rations are fed as the sole source of food. Food intake is much lower and there is a loss of body weight. Conversely when these rations are fed to students or military personnel for periods ranging from 3 to 42 days in a cafeteria-like setting, food intake is comparable to levels of a control group provided with freshly prepared food. Under these conditions, body weight is maintained. In this review, the consumption pattern is considered in terms of characteristics of the food (acceptability, variety, portion size, beverages, serving temperature, appropriateness for time of day, monotony, and novelty) and the eating milieu (social interactions, time, ease of preparing and consuming a meal). The twenty-year program of military ration research has led us to conclude that both the food and the context must be considered in understanding and controlling food intake. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Consumer acceptance of food and beverage was measured after modifying four key factors or `context effects'' in five consumer central location tests: its function as a meal component, social interaction during consumption, the physical environment in which the food is selected and consumed, and food choice. One of two flavor variations each of salad, pizza and iced tea were served. Acceptance ratings and self-reported food intake were obtained from consumers. In Tests 1–5, context effects were added sequentially, so that by Test 5 all context effects were present. Sixth test served as a comparison to `real life'' and took place at a local restaurant. Our hypothesis was that product acceptability would increase with the addition of the various context effects. Meal context had the strongest positive effect on tea; social context had a strong negative effect on pizza; environment had a weak but positive effect on pizza and tea and a negative effect on salad; and choice had a positive effect on salad. These results suggest that context variables do affect product acceptance, but that the relationship between context effect and consumer acceptance may not be consistent within and across meal components. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This study investigated how information, typically presented on wine back-labels or wine company websites, influences consumers' expected liking, informed liking, wine-evoked emotions and willingness to pay for Australian white wines. Regular white wine consumers (n = 126) evaluated the same set of three commercially available white wines (mono-varietal Chardonnay, Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc) under three information levels. Session 1, blind tasting (no information provided) and Session 2, informed tasting (held at least 1 week later) with both basic (sensory description of the wines) and elaborate (sensory plus high wine quality and favourable winery information) descriptions followed by liking, wine-evoked emotions (measured with the Australian Wine Evoked Emotions Lexicon (AWEEL)) and willingness to pay evaluations. Before tasting the wine in session 2, consumers also rated expected liking. Results showed that information level had a significant effect on all investigated variables. The elaborate information level evoked higher expectations before tasting the wines, plus resulted in higher liking ratings, elicitation of more intense positive (e.g. contented , happy and warm-hearted ) and less intense negative emotions (e.g. embarrassed and unfulfilled ), and a substantial increase in willingness to pay after tasting the wines compared to the blind condition, with the basic condition ranging in-between. These results were consistent across the three wine samples. Furthermore, if the liking rating after tasting the wines matched the expected liking or exceeded the expectations by 1 point on a 9-point hedonic scale, participants felt the most intense positive emotions and the least intense negative emotions. Whereas, if the expectations were not met or the actual liking exceeded the expectations by > 2 points, participants felt less intense positive and more intense negative emotions. This highlights not only the importance of well written and accurate wine descriptions, but also that information can influence consumers' wine drinking experience and behaviour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the effect of different contexts on consumers' mood, product-evoked emotions, liking and willingness to pay for wine. Three consumer trials (n = 114, 115, and 120) examined 3 different sample sets of 4 Australian commercial Shiraz wines. Each sample set was comprised of a high, medium-high, medium-low and low quality wine as designated by an expert panel. Wine consumers evaluated the same set of wines in the three different contexts, ranging from a highly-controlled laboratory setting to more realistic restaurant and at-home settings. Results showed that high quality wines were liked more and elicited more intense emotions of positive valence compared to wines of lower quality. Context effects were observed on emotions, but not on liking, indicating that although emotions and liking are correlated, the measurement of emotions can deliver additional information over liking. Tasting wine in the restaurant context evoked more intense positive emotions compared to the home and laboratory contexts. Participants' mood before tasting the wines had a strong influence on consecutive product-evoked emotion ratings, but only weak influence on liking ratings. Furthermore, a strong relationship between wine-evoked emotions and willingness to pay was observed, showing that if a wine-evoked more intense emotion of positive valence e.g., contented, enthusiastic, happy, optimistic and passionate participants were willing to pay significantly more for a bottle. Additionally, the absence of negative emotions, even if typically evoked to a very weak extent, is a requirement for an increased willingness to pay. This study indicates it is worthwhile to consider context and emotions in wine testing and marketing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Psychographics data were collected from three global consumer studies for phytonutrient supplements products. The objective of this paper was to explore the usage of the psychographics and other consumer data for sensory causal inference, i.e., cause-and-effect inference, rather than conventional statistical associational inference. In this work, three case studies are presented for different key measures from each study with different resulting outcomes. For each case study, propensity score analysis (PSA) was applied to account for consumer covariates after down-selection of the many scales included in each study to those of relevant importance. Causal effects are shown to be not significant in two of the three case studies, but larger than the associational effects; and importantly, one of these studies shows direction of the effects changed. The third case study shares a situation where the associational effect is not significant, however significant causal effects were found. These findings suggest accounting for consumer psychographic and other covariates is prudent for researchers to consider, especially for observational studies where many important covariates exist that may confound results and interpretations. Results show the PSA methodology using psychographics and other data for causal inference provides useful insights that may lead to implications for business decision-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study compared the self-reported food-evoked emotion profiles of younger adults ( n = 80, mean age 29.4 (years) ± 9.5 (SD)), older normosmic adults ( n = 84, mean age 68.9 (years) ± 4.2 (SD)), and older hyposmic adults ( n = 70, mean age 69.4 (years) ± 6.1 (SD)). The three groups evaluated gingerbreads and chocolates using the EsSense25 questionnaire. Our results demonstrated several differences in the self-reported emotion profiles of the participant groups, especially between those of the older groups and younger adults ( Rv -coefficients of 0.39 and 0.42 for older normosmic/hyposmic adults and younger adults, versus 0.77 for older normosmic adults and older hyposmic adults). Firstly, the emotions as reported by the younger adults varied along the two dimensions valence and arousal, whereas the emotions of the older groups mainly varied along the valence dimension. Secondly, both older groups scored generally lower on a number of negative emotions, such as ‘disgusted’, and ‘bored’ ( p < 0.05). Finally, compared to their younger counterparts, the two older groups were generally less extreme in their emotion scores (i.e. they reported lower scores for a number of emotions, p < 0.05). The influence of olfactory function was product dependent, as the emotion profiles of older normosmic and hyposmic adults differed only for specific products. In conclusion, participants’ age and – to a lesser extent – olfactory function seem to impact on self-reported food-evoked emotions. Therefore, both factors should be taken into account when products are being tailored to the needs of older persons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] PANAS emotions associated with aromas of phytonutrient supplements were measured. [•] PANAS scales are valid measurements of consumer emotion of phytonutrient aromas. [•] Long (20-item) and short (10-item) PANAS scales are consistent but not equivalent. [•] Aroma discrimination was demonstrated using PANAS positive and negative dimensions. [•] Consumer hedonic, sensory, and emotional attributes represent different dimensions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• General self-efficacy measures are collected from Japanese consumers. • Agglomerative hierarchical clustering is applied for consumer segmentation. • Clusters formed from general self-efficacy ratings are reviewed. • Clusters are compared/contrasted with selected psychographics and hedonics. • The implications of general self-efficacy cluster differences are discussed. Segmentation based on psychographics data is a relatively new topic and one of the current trends of consumer research within the sensory and consumer research fields. In this paper, Japanese consumer segmentation was conducted based on General self-efficacy (GSE) self-assessment collected in a phytonutrient supplement study. The aim of this study was to understand the influence of GSE on self-reported health behaviors, well-being, and product involvement and liking. The product tested was a 3-tablet phytonutrient supplement, 2 of each to be taken twice daily for 5 days; n = 206 vitamin mineral supplement (VMS) users participated in the study. The agglomerative hierarchical clustering method was used in the segmentation. Two clusters were identified that distinguished those with higher vs lower GSE. Results indicate those with higher GSE have a higher overall sense of well-being , are more actively looking for products and services that help them live a healthy lifestyle and are more involved with the product (phytonutrient tablets). Those with higher GSE also tend to rate the product more favorably on Overall Liking. These findings extend our understanding of GSE and the influential role of psychographics on responses for the phytonutrient supplement category. Further, these results suggest future efforts to increase GSE may help increase involvement and engagement with the category toward quality-of-life improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The relationship between laboratory and field data was investigated for nine different groupings of 5–7 foods: two main dish groupings, four snack item groupings, and three specific meals. Liking ratings on the nine-point hedonic scale were obtained in an US Army field study and for the same foods in a sensory laboratory. In a subsequent choice simulation laboratory with two food groupings, we offered subjects some choice (three out of six or seven items) among to which foods they would evaluate. The results showed high correlations between lab and field ratings for the snack food groupings (0.58–0.94), but low correlations for the main dishes (−0.05–0.26) and meal components (−0.07–0.41). Correlations between mean field and mean laboratory data improved when laboratory subjects were offered a choice of foods. The ability of laboratory ratings to predict acceptability of foods consumed under realistic conditions appears to depend on the type of food, and may be better for foods used as snacks than for main dishes. Laboratory conditions in which subjects had some degree of choice among foods improved the relationship with the field data. It is important to pay more attention to experimental variables that may improve the validity of sensory laboratory tests. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This commentary discusses papers dealing with responses to the first phase of the Covid-19 pandemic in Spring 2020. The papers focus on healthy eating and drinking, with less emphasis on unhealthy eating and drinking and resulting weight gain. This helps us to understand the initial eating responses to stress. The multi-cultural data collected before Covid-10 also provide interesting data on eating and drinking during normal times. The commentary addresses the problems created by lack of representative sampling of consumers in some of the papers. The commentary also discusses the focus on healthy eating, and the likelihood of unhealthy eating and resulting weight gain. It will be interesting to compare these early data with data from later in the Covi-19 pandemic., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2022 Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

Demographics and psychographics are used to study the influence of different consumers on product effects in food development and testing. Demographics have a longer history and are routinely used in most research; psychographics are more recent, raising the question of whether they add to research on food products. The research presented here represents extensive exploratory data that demonstrate that both demographic measures and psychographic measures add to our understanding of consumer's liking ratings for nutrient supplements. The results are discussed in the context of broader research on a range of food products. In addition, the research reported here was conducted in four different countries, demonstrating many country effects. Finally, tests were conducted with users of the products, lapsed users of the product, and users of other nutrient supplements (non-users), and this led to many differences in product testing. These results further suggest that age and gender are not the only demographic variables to be studied, along with psychographic variables. The psychographic variables should be selected for a particular product category under investigation, as effects of specific psychographic measures vary for product categories. Specific variables do not fit all products for both demographics and psychographics.

Wine consumer lifestyle segmentation has been widely studied; however, most studies have solely utilised online surveys. This work investigated the impact of context on wine consumer segments' liking and emotions while consuming wines in different environments. Two studies were conducted with regular wine consumers segmented based on their fine wine behaviour using the Fine Wine Instrument. Study 1 ( n = 122) investigated the effects of wine variety and product information, and Study 2 ( n = 346) the effects of wine quality and consumption context, on hedonic and emotional responses of the segments. Within both studies, three segments were identified and named: Wine Enthusiasts, Aspirants and No Frills. The Wine Enthusiast segment generally liked the wines more and perceived more intense positive emotions when consuming wine compared to the No Frills segment, with the Aspirant's likes and emotion intensities ranging in between. Wine Enthusiasts were more discriminative of their preferred wines and reported stronger positive emotions when tasting higher quality (Study 1) and more complex (Study 2) wines. The consistent results across the two studies showed for the first time that consumer segments, based on lifestyle segmentation, differ in their hedonic and emotional responses towards wine when actually tasting wines, demonstrating that the Fine Wine Instrument has practical implications and can identify wine consumers displaying different wine consumption behaviours.

A photography method was used to measure waste on food trays in school lunch in France, using the 5-point quarter-waste scale. While food waste has been studied extensively in US school lunches, the structure of the French lunch meal is quite different, with multiple courses, and vegetables (raw and cooked) in more than one course. Vegetables were the most wasted food category as usually seen in school lunch research, especially cooked vegetables, which were wasted at rates of 66%-83%. Raw vegetables were still wasted more than main dishes, starchy products, dairy, fruit, and desserts. Vegetables were also the most disliked food category, with the classes of vegetables falling in the same order as for waste. Waste and liking were highly correlated. Sensory characteristics of the food were cited as a main reason for liking/disliking. There is a strong connection between food liking and food consumption, and this connection should be the basis for future attempts to modify school lunch to improve consumption. The photographic method of measuring food waste at an individual level performed well.

While food variety continues to be of major interest to those studying eating and health, research has been mainly limited to laboratory research of simple meals. This paper seeks to enlarge the scope of eating research by examining the food offered in the earliest menus in United States restaurants and hotels of the early and mid-19th c, when restaurants began. This reveals a very large variety in what food was offered. The paper discusses why variety has declined in the US and probably elsewhere, including changes in the customer, changes in food service, changes of food availability, and the industrialization of the food supply. Menu analysis offers another approach to studying dietary variety across cultures and across time., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The main goal of this study was to test whether exposure to happy, neutral, or sad media content influences social modeling effects of (snack) food intake in young children. The study was conducted at 14 Dutch urban and suburban primary schools. The participants (N=112) were asked to watch a movie with a same-sex normal-weight confederate who was instructed to eat either nothing or a standardized amount of snack food (10 chocolate-coated peanuts). The study involved a 3 (movie clips: happy, neutral, and sad)×2 (peer's food intake: no intake versus a standardized intake) between-participants design. A significant interaction between the movie clip condition and intake condition was found (F(2,102)=3.30, P=.04, Cohen's f(2)=.20). Positive as well as negative emotions were found to lead to adjustment to the intake of a peer, as compared to that of children in the neutral movie condition. The findings suggest that children eat more mindlessly when watching an emotional movie and, therefore, respond more automatically to a peer's food intake, whereas children may be less susceptible to a peer's intake while watching a neutral movie. As young children are not in the position to choose their food consumption environment yet, parents and schools should provide consumption settings that limit eating in front of the television., (Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Perceptions of a range of evening meal situations eaten in the home were explored in a female consumer population. The investigation was carried out using the repertory grid technique and using written scenarios as the research stimuli. The nine scenarios successfully manipulated perceived convenience, time and effort. A consumer-generated vocabulary pertaining to food-related convenience was derived and revealed that while elements of both time and effort contributed to perceived convenience, these two 'dimensions' were highly interdependent. The presence of terms related to planning, shopping, preparation, cooking and clean-up illustrated that all stages in the food provisioning process influenced perceived convenience. Some evidence was established of perceptual differences between individuals varying with respect to convenience orientation in meal preparation.

The history of food acceptance research by the US Army in Chicago and Natick is reviewed. The review covers the staff of the two research centers, the research programs, and the significant accomplishments of the Army laboratories from the 1940s to the present. Accomplishments begin with the development of the nine-point hedonic scale, and the development of the first Food Acceptance Laboratory. Further accomplishments include studies of sensory psychophysics, food preferences, food choice and food intake. The laboratories designed methods and conducted research on the role of consumer variables in the acceptance of food products and food service systems. Recent work has focused on new scaling approaches, the role of contextual factors and the importance of product expectations. Throughout the period of the review, the Army research has examined the relationship of laboratory acceptance to field acceptance, and the relationship of acceptance to intake.