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Cultured meat is still under development but could possibly serve as a meat alternative. As a result, the acceptance and perception of cultured meat have received considerable attention in consumer research. However, only few comparisons to meat or meat alternatives have been made, which makes it unclear how cultured meat compares to these products. This is the first study to directly compare cultured meat to plant-based meat alternatives (PBMA), fish, insects, and conventional meat. Dutch consumers (n = 288) evaluated their perception and willingness to consume (WTC) patties made from the five sources listed above. Consumer segmentation based on the WTC ratings was performed, and the resulting clusters were compared in terms of their preferences, perception of cultured meat, and demographic and psychographic variables. To see if naming affected consumers’ cultured meat perception, respondents were assigned to one of five naming conditions for cultured meat. The clusters analysis yielded three clusters, two of which showed moderate WTC cultured meat. The first cluster could be characterized as “meat lovers.” Their WTC was strongest for conventional meat, followed by cultured meat, and tastiness was their main driver of WTC. The second cluster's preference was fish, followed by PBMA, with naturalness, safety, and tastiness being their drivers of WTC. The third cluster's highest WTC was for PBMA, followed by cultured meat. Among their drivers of WTC were healthiness, sustainability, and animal friendliness. Psychographic variables were highly valuable in explaining the clusters. Finally, no effects of naming for cultured meat were observed. Practical Application: The results contribute to the design of guidelines to promote different meat alternatives considering specific target populations.

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This work examines the associated emotions of consumers transmitted from extrinsic attributes (fat-related nutrition claims (full-fat, low-fat, and fat-free) and ingredient features (plain, berries, and double chocolate chunk)) labelled on yoghurt packages. It differentiates by consumption context (health versus indulgent) at the time of the survey and studies the relationship between the associated emotions (e.g., positive versus negative) attached to extrinsic attributes and the actual choices. The research was conducted in the Netherlands in 2019, with 209 regular consumers of yoghurt. Participants were divided into two treatments according to each consumption context and a control group (no context); they were instructed to imagine purchasing yoghurt to consume it as a healthy snack or as a dessert or received no instructions. After choosing their preferred option from a discrete choice experiment, participants indicated how the choice made them feel from a list of emotions. The results revealed significant differences between positive emotional profiles for choosing healthy (low-fat) yoghurts with berries and negative profiles for choosing less healthy alternatives (full-fat) with double chocolate chunk sensory features. The findings from a random parameter logit model showed that participants who continuously chose the same type of yoghurt in all choice tasks selected mostly positive rather than negative emotions. The overall findings suggest that the associated emotions affect yoghurt choices. However, the emotions were mainly affected by the consumption context. © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

PurposeWhile research shows that organic labels are perceived positively for most food products, the findings are more ambiguous for wine. This may be due to the complexity of the product. Accordingly, the labelling effect might be influenced by people's prior knowledge of wines and their attitudes towards organic wines and thus be more pronounced for certain consumer groups. Providing insights into those moderators could help to steer people towards sustainable wine consumption. Therefore, this paper aims to investigate the effect of organic labelling on consumers' liking of, and their willingness to pay (WTP) for white wine, and the role of potential moderators.Design/methodology/approachA wine tasting experiment was conducted using a within-subjects design (n = 214). The mediating role of expected liking and the moderating roles of subjective knowledge and attitude towards organic wine were analysed using the MEMORE macro in SPSS.FindingsThe results do not confirm an overall positive halo effect of labelling on liking of organic wine. Nevertheless, a positive halo effect on actual liking was observed for those respondents who have a positive attitude towards organic wine. Furthermore, an overall positive effect of organic labelling on WTP was found. Mediation effects could not be confirmed.Originality/valueThis study used an experimental design that considers not only expected liking but also actual liking and WTP for organic wines. Using a moderation-mediation framework helps to better understand consumers' quality evaluation and WTP for organic wine. Finally, it could be shown that the organic halo is more complex for the product category of wine than others have previously stated.

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Food oral processing depends on food properties and consumer characteristics. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of age, gender, ethnicity and eating capability on oral processing behaviour of liquid, semi-solid and solid foods. Oral processing behaviour of 18 commercially available foods, ranging from liquids, semi-solids to solids, was compared between Dutch, Caucasian adults (18-30 yrs), Chinese, Asian adults (18-30 yrs), Dutch, Caucasian elderly (60-80 yrs), and consumers with mild swallowing problems and/or low mastication efficiency (18-80 yrs). Participants were video recorded during food consumption and six oral processing parameters extracted. Elderly consumed all foods with lower eating rates (g/s) than young adults by increasing consumption time (s). Females consumed solid foods with lower eating rates (g/s) than males by reducing bite size (g). Chinese, Asian consumers consumed liquid and solid foods with lower eating rates (g/s) than Dutch, Caucasian consumers by reducing bites size (g). Chinese, Asian consumers consumed semi-solid foods with lower eating rates (g/s) than Dutch, Caucasian consumers by reducing bite size (g) and increasing consumption time (s). Consumers with decreased mastication efficiency or mild swallowing problems showed similar oral processing behaviour than healthy consumers, probably because reduction in eating capability was limited in the group. This demonstrates that different consumer groups adapt eating rate (g/s) in different ways by modifying bite size (g), consumption time (s) or both. To conclude, age, gender and ethnicity influence oral processing behaviour of liquid, semi-solid and solid foods differently. Understanding differences in oral processing behaviour of specific consumer groups can assist in steering sensory perception, food choice and energy intake of specific consumer groups such as the elderly.

Deciding what to eat often implies a conflict between immediate goals (I need to eat, ideally something enjoyable) and long-term goals (I need to be healthy), particularly when choosing between foods superior on a hedonic dimension (referred to as vices) and foods superior on an utilitarian dimension (referred to as virtues). One sort of intervention that could potentially shift balance between short-term and long-term consequences is instructed mental simulation. Mental simulations could be characterised as images or can be embodied, as a complete experience, including body sensations, feelings and images. We examine systematic differences in two types of instructed mental simulation: imagining the moment of consumption (process) and post-consumption (outcome), and emphasise the importance of product type (vice, virtue) on its effect on wanting and choice. In a within-subject experiment, 76 participants were allocated to the two mental simulation conditions (happening in different sessions) and imagined consuming or having consumed a vice and a virtue product. After imagining each product, the participants rated their level of wanting and indicated the product they preferred: the vice or the virtue one. The results showed that imagining the consumption of the vice product or the post-consumption of the virtue product increased the rate of wanting for the correspondent product, the same pattern was found for preferences. Furthermore, results showed that health orientation moderated the effect of mental simulation on wanting and choice. Further knowledge in different simulation types may have important implications for understanding how we represent food in our mind and help with the development of effective communicational interventions that nudge people towards healthier food choices.

This study explored how product familiarity and physiological characteristics of participants affect detectability of microparticles in viscous and semi-solid foods. Cellulose particles differing in size (50-780 μm) were added (1.5% w/w) to two dairy products, quark (viscous curd cheese) and processed cheese. Discrimination thresholds for added microparticles were determined by 47 Dutch, Caucasian and 45 Chinese, Asian women using the Method of Constant Stimuli. Particle size detection thresholds did not significantly differ between the two groups, but differed significantly between the two products. Detection threshold estimates for particle size were lower in viscous, low-fat quark than in semi-solid, high-fat processed cheese (52 μm versus 86 μm). This suggests that particle detection depends on product properties such as product consistency and composition, but not on factors linked to ethnicity and/or nationality of participants. We found no evidence to support a relationship between product familiarity and particle size detection thresholds in either product. A positive but weak correlation was found between stimulated saliva flow and particle size detection threshold in processed cheese (r = 0.21, p = 0.041), suggesting active salivation might enhance sensitivity for microparticle detection in semi-solid foods. PROP status and fungiform papillae density did not correlate with particle size detection threshold for either food. We conclude that matrix properties were the main contributors to particle size detection thresholds in young, healthy participants who differed in nationality and ethnicity. These data suggest that product characteristics are the central factor that should be considered for modifications when dealing with foods in which particles lead to negative sensations such as grittiness.

The packaging of a product is a key element in the communication between producers and consumers, so getting the consumer to interpret the packaging visual signs in the desired way is crucial to be successful in the marketplace. However, this is not easy as images can be ambiguous and may be interpreted in different ways. For example, depicting an icon of fire on the front of a bag of nuts may lead the consumer to interpret either that the nuts are spicy or that the nuts have been roasted. This paper addresses this problem and, using this case as an example, assesses if the interpretation of a fire icon (spicy vs roasted) can be modulated by manipulating its shape (angular vs rounded). 66 participants carried out an experiment which results show that there is a crossmodal correspondence between spiciness and pointy shapes and that this association can be used to modulate sensory expectations: in a speeded classification task, the bags of nuts depicting pointy fire icons were categorised more quickly as being spicy than as being roasted, while the opposite was true for the bags of nuts displaying rounded fire icons. In addition, the results of a mediation analysis suggest that this effect occurs indirectly through affective appraisal: the pointy fire icons were judged as being more aggressive than the rounded fire icons, which in turn raised spiciness expectations. These findings contribute to the research on crossmodal correspondences and semiotics by showing that the association between spiciness and abstract shapes can be used to modulate how people interpret an ambiguous image.

This study investigated how exteroceptive and interoceptive cues influence sensory perception and liking of novel, heterogeneous foods. Twelve heterogeneous cheeses were prepared by adding bell pepper pieces to homogeneous processed cheese matrices. Bell pepper pieces differed in size, hardness, and concentration. Consumers (n = 73) evaluated cheeses in three conditions. In the first condition, subjects tasted cheeses and rated them on sensory properties and liking while being blindfolded (interoceptive condition). In the second condition, participants evaluated expected sensory properties and liking of cheeses presented as pictures together with product descriptions (exteroceptive condition). In the third condition, consumers tasted and evaluated cheeses while visual cues and product descriptions were provided (combined condition). The hardness and concentration of bell pepper pieces predominantly determined variations in sensory perception in the interoceptive and combined conditions, whereas bell pepper size or concentration influenced expected sensory properties in the exteroceptive condition the most. Consumers expected to like the cheeses with small-medium sized bell pepper pieces the most. However, from the other conditions, we observed that piece size does not play a role in determining liking, and that cheeses with soft pieces were actually preferred most. From the comparison of the three conditions, we conclude that both visual and oral sensory cues influence texture and flavour perception of heterogeneous cheeses. Consumers’ liking was not influenced by the cheese’s exteroceptive cues during the combined condition. In contrast, interoceptive cues as hardness played a large role in determining variations in consumer’s hedonic responses. We conclude that for novel, heterogeneous foods liking after consumption is determined by textural product properties and depends to a large extent on the confirmation of consumers’ sensory expectations.

Disconfirmations between consumers’ expectations and a product’s actual properties can lead to different responses in consumers. Most researchers study these responses focusing on the final judgement of the product. However, looking at consumers’ physiological responses like those of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) could help complement what is known about consumer reactions and final response to disconfirmed expectations. This study evaluated how ANS responses change when tasting juice samples that were as expected, that differed slightly, or that differed greatly from manipulated expectations and whether these responses vary from those obtained when there is no manipulation of expectations. Eighty-six participants tasted fruit and vegetable juices in two separate sessions. They were divided in two conditions. In Condition A, expectations were manipulated by showing participants the image of an ingredient and then providing them with a juice whose flavour was as expected, differed slightly, or differed greatly from that of the image. In Condition B, each juice was first tasted without explicit information shown beforehand and the image of the ingredient was shown afterwards. The images were the same as in Condition A. Heart rate and skin conductance were measured. To confirm that participants perceived confirmations and large and small disconfirmations when tasting the juices, they rated the samples in different sensory properties before and after tasting them. Results from most of the sensory ratings, except sourness and taste intensity, showed that participants perceived the designed confirmation and disconfirmation of expectations accordingly. Regarding ANS responses, heart rate had a larger increase during the second session than during the first. Skin conductance responses increased in Condition A but decreased in Condition B. In conclusion, our design managed to create confirmations and varying levels of disconfirmations. ANS responses did not capture them but seemed to capture factors like attention and the orientation response.

This study investigated the effect of mechanical contrast and particle flavour concentration of carrot particles added to soups on expected and perceived sensations and liking. The properties of a chicken soup were varied by addition of real carrots, model carrots and model chicken particles differing in size, fracture stress, and/or carrot flavour concentration. The four aims of the study were: (1) To study the effect of mechanical contrast on expected and perceived sensations; (2) To investigate the role of particle carrot flavour concentration on perceived sensations and liking; (3) To study the effect of dis/confirmation of expected by perceived sensations on liking; (4) To investigate the consumer's preferences and ideal profile of soups. Expected sensory properties were affected by particle size: the larger the particles, the higher the expected intensities for hardness, chewiness, and crunchiness of soups. Perceived sensory properties were significantly influenced by size and fracture stress of carrot particles. Increasing flavour concentration in model carrot particles added to soups marginally influenced liking suggesting that flavour concentration in particles added to soups has a limited effect on liking. When model carrot particles were added to soups, expected sensory properties were confirmed by perceived sensory properties, and consequently liking did not change considerably. The congruency and familiar appearance of the model carrot pieces probably contributed to the confirmation of expectations. When model chicken pieces were added to soups, expected sensory properties were disconfirmed by perceived sensory properties leading to a significant decrease in liking. Soups containing medium-sized, soft carrot particles were the closest to the consumer's ideal product profile. To summarize, consumer expectations and physicochemical properties of chicken and carrot particles added to chicken soup contributed to perception and liking of soups. We conclude that the sensory product profile of common products such as soups can be optimised by addition of congruent and familiar particles that match consumer' expectations.

This study investigated the influence of size and fracture stress (σ F ) of dispersed particles embedded in liquid and semi-solid model food matrices on sensory perception and hedonic response. К-carrageenan particles varying in size (0.8, 2.4, 4.2 mm) and fracture stress (σ F : 25, 100, 250 kPa) were added (15% w/w) to liquid starch-based model soups and semi-solid protein-based model gels. Sensory profiles were quantified by untrained panellists (n = 54) using the Rate-All-That-Apply (RATA) method. Particle size mainly affected the type of sensory descriptors selected by the subjects, whereas fracture stress of particles determined mainly the perceived intensity of selected descriptors. Soups and gels with small particles (0.8 mm) were mainly perceived as gritty, whereas soups and gels with medium-sized particles (2.4 mm) were mainly perceived as beady. Increasing particle size to 4.2 mm caused lumpy and heterogeneous sensations in soups and gels. With variations of particle fracture stress, the perceived intensity of the selected attributes increased or decreased significantly for all particle sizes. Mouthfeel heterogeneity and chewiness increased significantly when increasing the fracture stress from 20 to 100 or 250 kPa. Mechanical contrast did not enhance liking of model soups and gels probably because к-carrageenan particles were perceived as artificial and provided texture contrast without flavour contrast. We conclude that size and fracture stress of dispersed particles embedded in liquid and semi-solid model food matrices affect differently sensory perception with particle size determining type of sensory descriptors selected and particle fracture stress determining intensity of selected sensory attributes.

The addition of food particles to food matrices is a convenient approach that allows to steer oral behavior, sensory perception and satiation. The aim of this study was to determine the influence of physical-chemical properties of heterogenous foods on oral processing behavior, bolus properties and dynamic sensory perception. Bell pepper gel pieces varying in fracture stress and concentration were added to processed cream cheese matrices differing in texture. Addition of bell pepper gel pieces to processed cheeses increased consumption time, decreased eating rate and led to harder and less adhesive bolus with more saliva incorporated. Addition of bell pepper gel pieces to processed cheeses decreased dominance rate and duration of creaminess, smoothness, melting and dairy flavor and increased graininess and bell pepper flavor. Increasing fracture stress of bell pepper gel pieces from 100 to 300 kPa resulted in longer consumption time and lower eating rate. For hard/non-adhesive processed cheese matrices increasing gel pieces fracture stress lead to a boli with larger particles and more saliva. These changes were accompanied by decreased dominance perception of creaminess and bell pepper flavor and increased dominance of graininess. Increasing the concentration of bell pepper gel pieces from 15 to 30% did not affect oral behavior but led to the formation of harder and less adhesive bolus with larger particles and less saliva that were perceived with reduced dominance of creaminess, meltiness and dairy flavor while dominance of graininess and bell pepper flavor increased. Changing the texture of the cheese matrix from soft/adhesive to hard/non-adhesive decreased consumption time, increased eating rate, did not influence bolus properties and decreased dominance rate of creaminess, smoothness and melting sensations. Number of chews and total consumption time were positively correlated with saliva content of the bolus, number of bolus particles, bolus hardness, dominance of firmness, chewiness and graininess. We conclude that the modification of physical-chemical properties of processed cheeses and embedded bell pepper gel pieces can be a strategy to steer oral behavior and bolus properties which consequently determine dynamic sensory perception. ispartof: Food Quality And Preference vol:88 pages:1-11 status: Published online

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Consumer characteristics such as age, gender and ethnicity influence food oral processing behavior. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of age, gender and ethnicity on consumption time, bolus properties and dynamic sensory perception of sausages. Consumption time, bolus properties (saliva incorporation, particle size distribution and rheological properties) and dynamic texture perception (Temporal Dominance of Sensations, TDS) of sausages were compared between young Dutch, Caucasians (n = 21; 22 ± 2.8 years), young Chinese, Asians (n = 21; 23 ± 1.6 years), and elderly Dutch, Caucasians (n = 22; 70 ± 4.3 years). Elderly Dutch masticated the sausage 22% longer (25.6 s) than young Dutch consumers (21.0 s). Elderly Dutch produced sausage boli that were softer, more adhesive, less cohesive and contained more particles than those of young Dutch adults. Elderly females produced more adhesive and less cohesive sausage bolus than males. Young Chinese females had 75.6% longer consumption time (29.5 s) than young Dutch females (16.8 s). Young Chinese males masticated the sausages in less time (18.8 s) than young Chinese females (29.5 s). Young Chinese produced softer and less cohesive bolus with slightly smaller and more particles than young Dutch. Saliva incorporation and bolus particle size were not affected by age, gender and ethnicity. Mediation analysis revealed that the effect of consumer characteristics such as age, gender and ethnicity on bolus properties was mediated by consumption time. At the beginning and end of consumption time, dynamic texture perception of sausages was similar for all consumer groups and strongly correlated with bolus properties. Differences in dynamic texture perception between consumer groups were observed only during the middle stages of mastication with low dominance rates. We conclude that consumers differing in age, gender and ethnicity vary in oral processing time to produce bolus with textural properties optimized to their needs. Furthermore, consumption time is the underlying mechanism that explains the differences in bolus properties between the consumer groups. While variations in consumption time of sausages lead to considerable differences in bolus properties, it only leads to small differences in dynamic texture perception. This journal is

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This study investigated whether the addition of macroparticles or fat can be used to compensate for negative texture sensations in quark. Cellulose beads were added as model microparticles (1.5% w/w; average size: 263 µm) to quark (0% fat) to induce unpleasant gritty sensations. The addition of microparticles to quark significantly increased grittiness and dryness, while creaminess and liking decreased. Three strategies were explored to reduce the impact of unpleasant gritty sensations on consumer perception: two strategies involved the addition of macroparticles (granola or peach gel pieces); the third one consisted of increasing the fat content of the quark (4.4 and 8.8% w/w). For all three strategies, grittiness caused by microparticles did not significantly decrease when macroparticles or fat were present. Addition of peach gel pieces to quark with microparticles did not increase liking. When granola pieces were added to quark containing microparticles, liking increased significantly despite that grittiness was still perceived. Temporal Dominance of Sensations (TDS) revealed that addition of granola pieces caused prolonged dominance of positive, crunchy sensations and minimized dominance of negative, gritty sensations. The addition of fat did not lead to a significant increase in liking of quark, although when a medium amount of fat was added (4.4%), it also did not decrease liking significantly. This was probably due to an effective hedonic compensation triggered by more positive sensations (i.e. sweetness). We conclude that addition of crunchy granola pieces or fat can be used as strategies to shift and increase dominance of positive and liked attributes, leading to an increase of overall liking, although negative sensations (grittiness) caused by microparticles are still perceived. This approach could be used to compensate for undesired texture sensations in different types of foods, such as high protein foods.

Many times, desire possesses us and impedes us from making healthier food choices. From a grounded cognition perspective, we investigated the role of two types of mental simulation (process and outcome) in desire and food choice to understand the processes that modulate them and find strategies that encourage healthier food choices. In addition to these explicit measures, we used two implicit methods to measure approach-avoidance tendencies and visual attention. Our results showed that imagining the consumption of vice and virtue foods increased desire for the product imagined and seemed to favor the choice of a vice food. However, at an implicit level, the motivation to approach and avoid food products was neutral. Imagining the post-consumption of a vice food decreased desire for the imagined food and although it tempted people at an implicit level, it made people more prone to choose a virtue food. When a vice food was imagined, attentional bias increased for all types of food regardless of the simulation. When a virtue food was imagined, there was no effect on choice, motivation nor attentional bias. In conclusion, simply imagining certain foods is a potential solution for promoting healthier and thoughtful choices.

Many people struggle with the classical choice of eating a mouth-watering snack versus a healthier product. One of the reasons behind this is that unhealthier products are appealing for their direct gratification; they deliver pleasure. The present research investigates the effect of mental simulation as a relatively new strategy to possibly shift the balance between direct gratification and the consideration of longer-term benefits necessary to make healthier choices. Specifically we distinguish between imagining the consumption process versus the outcome of eating a specific product, hereafter referred to as mental simulations. In two studies, we show that participants under process simulation, i.e., imagining the process of eating, had a higher desire for the imagined product compared to a control condition, but in a choice task between a healthy and an unhealthier product, more people chose the unhealthier product over the healthier one. On the other hand, outcome simulation, i.e., imagining the outcome of eating, also generated a higher desire for the imagined product, but in this case people chose the healthier option. In terms of underlying process, we explored the role of valence of the imagined experience on desire for the imagined product. This is the first study giving insights into the processes that could be behind the impact of mental simulation on desire and food choices. Although the results are not conclusive, we propose that further research in attentional biases, and possibly emotional activation could enlighten the effect of mental simulation in food desires and choice between healthy and unhealthy alternatives.

It is unclear whether the responses of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) can measure how people respond to food. Results focused on emotional responses are contradictory; therefore, the focus has shifted to other components of emotion, such as appraisals. The aim of this study was, therefore, to evaluate the differences in ANS responses related to appraisals; particularly taste novelty, valence, and the disconfirmation of expectations. A hundred and fifty-five participants joined this study. They tasted samples of different valence (sweet and bitter) twice: the first time without knowing the taste and the second while being informed of the taste. After this first block, participants tasted two additional samples: one that confirmed expectations and one that disconfirmed them. Heart rate and skin conductance were measured. Results show that the second experience with a taste led to cardiac deceleration. Heart rate changes were only related to valence when participants’ expectations were (dis)confirmed. Heart rate decreased for those tastes that disconfirmed expectations and increased for those that confirmed them and the sweet sample had larger increases in heart rate than the bitter. Skin conductance changed in regards to novelty and valence but not to the disconfirmation of expectations. It increased for the bitter sample, decreased for the sweet, and was always higher during the first experience than during the second. In conclusion, the results suggest that cardiac responses are more sensitive to novelty and the disconfirmation of expectations while skin conductance responses capture novelty and valence.

This study investigated the influence of mechanical and physicochemical properties of semi-solid model foods on the detection and temporal perception of texture contrast. Gel-based model foods consisting of two layers were used to systematically vary mechanical contrast and physicochemical properties within bi-layer gels. Fracture stress (σF) and strain (eF) were modified by changing the concentration of various gelling agents (agar, к-carrageenan, and gelatine). The physicochemical properties of gels varied with respect to syneresis and melting behaviour depending on the type of gelling agent. The detection limit of perceived texture contrast of bi-layer gels was determined using ranking tests. Subjects ranked gels in order of increasing perceived heterogeneity as a measure of texture contrast. The detection limit of texture contrast varied between brittle and elastic gels and between soft (low σF) and hard (high σF) gels. In soft and brittle agar gels, heterogeneity was perceived already when the difference in fracture stress between layers was small (ΔσF ≥5 kPa). In soft and elastic gels (к-carrageenan, gelatine) and hard gels, heterogeneity was perceived only when the difference in fracture stress between the layers was large (ΔσF ≥12 kPa). The perceived heterogeneity intensity over time was investigated by time-intensity profiling. During mastication, gelatine gels were perceived for a longer period of time with a higher heterogeneity intensity than agar and к-carrageenan gels. We conclude that mainly mechanical properties of gels impact detectability of mechanical contrast as perceived texture contrast (heterogeneity), whereas a combination of mechanical and physicochemical properties influence the dynamic perception of heterogeneity over time.

Self-report measures rely on cognitive and rational processes and may not, therefore, be the most suitable tools to investigate implicit or unconscious factors within a sensory experience. The responses from the autonomic nervous system (ANS), which are not susceptible to bias due to their involuntary nature, may provide a better insight. Expectations are important for the consumer-product interaction and should be considered. However, research using ANS responses has not focused thoroughly on expectations. Our aim was to investigate the mechanisms underlying ANS responses by evaluating the reactions to different images when expectations about a product are created (before tasting the product) and when they are confirmed and disconfirmed (after tasting the product). In a first study, seventy-five participants tasted four drinks (three identical soy-based drinks and one rice-based drink) and were told that they would be shown their main ingredient either before or after tasting. For the three identical drinks, the images shown were: worms, chocolate, and soy. Heart rate and skin conductance were measured during the procedure. The results showed that ANS responses followed similar patterns when images were presented before or after tasting. Heart rate decreased for all images, with the largest decrease found for chocolate and worms. Skin conductance increased, with the largest increase found for worms. To test whether the effects were solely caused by image perception, a second study was done in which forty participants only saw the images. The responses obtained were smaller and did not completely match those of the first study. In conclusion, it could be said that the ANS responses of the first study were a result of the sensory processing and defense mechanisms happening during the creation and (dis)confirmation of expectations. The second study confirmed that visual perception alone could not account for these effects and that it led to smaller changes. Hence, it seems that the context of use influences the patterns and magnitude of ANS responses to food cues.

Food oral processing plays a key role in sensory perception, consumer acceptance and food intake. However, little is known about the influence of physical food properties on oral processing of different type of food products. The primary objective of this study was to determine the influence of rheological and mechanical properties of foods on oral processing behavior of liquid (drinkable), semi-solid (spoonable) and solid foods (chewable). The secondary objective was to quantify the influence of product liking, frequency of consumption and familiarity on oral processing behavior. Rheological and mechanical properties of 18 commercially available foods were quantified. Parameters describing oral processing behavior such as sip and bite size, consumption time, eating rate, number of swallows, number of chews, cycle duration, and chewing rate were extracted from video recordings of 61 consumers. Subjects evaluated products’ liking, familiarity, and frequency of consumption using questionnaires. Consumers strongly adapted oral processing behavior with respect to bite size, consumption time, and eating rate to the rheological and mechanical properties of liquid, semi-solid and solid foods. This adaptation was observed within each food category. Chewing rate and chewing cycle duration of solid foods were not influenced by mechanical properties and remained relatively constant. Liking, familiarity, and consumption frequency showed to impact oral processing behavior, although to a lower degree than the rheological and mechanical properties of food. We conclude that the oral processing behaviors of liquid, semi-solid and solid foods are mainly determined by their rheological and mechanical properties.

In this chapter we provide a brief overview of the research using scenarios to evoke context in affective (specifically emotion) research within the field of Sensory and Consumer Science. We then present two case studies that extend previously used scenarios and their application to other affective variables, such as consumption enjoyment. We demonstrate that consumers are capable of using scenarios to evoke complex situations, which involve not only environmental or temporal factors but also behaviors. The potential that these strategies have are then discussed and their advantages and limitations to other approaches such as virtual reality compared. We conclude that the underlying success factor of means of context evocation lies in the familiarity and appropriateness of the imagined situation, which becomes most relevant when collecting affective data in laboratory settings.

The images shown on food packaging play an important role in the processes of identification, categorisation and the generation of expectations, since the consumer uses the images to infer information about the product. However, a given image may convey different meanings (e.g. in a food package, “fire” may mean barbecued or spicy ), so it is very important for producers and designers to understand the factors responsible for consumers inferring a specific meaning. This paper addresses this problem and shows experimentally that the consumer tends to infer the meaning from the image which is most congruent with the product it is displayed with. 65 participants carried out two speeded classification tasks which results show an interaction between the product (congruent vs. incongruent) and the image (with fire vs. without fire): products congruent with a meaning of fire were categorised more quickly when shown with fire than without it, while products incongruent with a meaning of fire were categorised more slowly when shown with fire than without it. In addition, the results show that stimuli were categorised more quickly when the interpretation of fire was literal (e.g. barbecue) than in those that were metaphorical (e.g. spiciness), indicating that the rhetorical style of the image (literal or metaphorical) influences the cognitive effort required to process it. These contributions improve our understanding of the effect of the images shown on packaging in the communication between packaging and consumers.

Desire, purchase, and consumption of fast-moving consumer goods often follow actual motivational states instead of habitual preferences. This has led to an increasing interest within health sciences to investigate the causes for irrational eating behaviours among consumers, particularly with the use of indirect measurements. However, literature results on the relationship between dynamic, motivational concepts (e.g., approach or avoidance tendencies) and evaluative concepts (e.g., positive or negative associations) remain inconclusive, possibly due to the use of different experimental manipulations and methodologiesto operationalize these. Our aim with this study is to contribute to this line of research by developing a novel methodology that is based on structurally identical indirect measurement procedures. We measured explicit desire (motivation) and liking (evaluation) of two different foods (sandwich andsweets) on visual analogue scales, as well as implicit approach–avoidance tendencies and implicit positive–negative associations with two variants of the recoding-free Implicit Association Tests (IAT-RFs). At first, all participants (N = 108) unwrapped, smelled, and explicitly judged the two foods, then allwatched a video clip (during which half of the participants were allowed to eat the sandwich but not the sweets), and finally they all performed the two indirect measurements. Thus, desire for the foods was experimentally manipulated between participants. We hypothesized that a valid measure should show an interaction of food category (manipulated within participants) and desire fulfilment. Hence, explicit desire and implicit approach motivation should behigher for participants that were not allowed to consume the sandwich and fulfil their desire, compared to the group that was able to eat the sandwich during the experiment. Results confirm our hypothesis. The motivational IAT-RF correctly assessed approach tendencies towards the sandwich in the group thatdid not eat, and approach tendencies towards the sweets in the group that just ate a sandwich. In contrast, the evaluative IAT-RF measure did not reflect a clear ‘‘preference” towards any of the two popular products in both groups. This research provides a potentially relevant methodology for consumer studies’ by offering a chance to differentiate between implicit motivational and evaluative concepts within consumer behaviour

Addition of particles to foods, such as fruit pieces to dairy products or vegetable pieces to soup, is a convenient approach to alter nutritional composition, appearance, perception and acceptance. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of addition of peach gel particles to yogurt on oral behavior, sensory perception and liking of consumers differing in age. One homogeneous yogurt and seven yogurts with peach gel particles were prepared. The added peach gel particles varied in size, fracture stress, or concentration. Oral behavior of n = 62 healthy Dutch, young adults (21 ± 2 years) and n = 62 healthy Dutch elderly (70 ± 5 years) participants was characterized by video recordings. Yogurts’ sensory properties and liking were scored on nine-point scales. Elderly consumed yogurts with higher number of chews and longer consumption time leading to lower eating rate than young adults. Addition of particles, regardless of characteristics, increased number of chews, consumption time, and decreased eating rate up to 60% for both consumer groups, with an average decrement of 110 g/min for young and of 63 g/min for elderly consumers. With increasing peach gel hardness and concentration, the number of chews and consumption time increased while eating rate decreased. Peach gel particle size did not affect oral behavior. Sensory perception of yogurts with added peach gel particles was similar for healthy young adult and healthy elderly. Only small differences in sensory perception were observed between the young adults and elderly for flavor attributes, crumbliness, juiciness, and perceived particle size. Similarly, minor differences in liking of a few yogurts with peach pieces were observed between both consumer groups. Thus, healthy ageing seems to affect sensory perception of semi-solid foods to a limited extent only. We conclude that changes in food texture by addition of particles can be used as a strategy to steer eating rate and potentially impact food intake of young adult and elderly consumers while maintaining or enhancing food palatability. Additionally, particle characteristics can be modified to target specific consumer groups that might differ in eating capabilities.

At a time when a growing number of chefs and innovative food industries are starting to set up their own research kitchens and work with renowned scientists, it is surprising to see that issues related to the visual presentation of food on the plate are being left out of these successful exchanges. The variety of presentations created by chefs, and the number of varieties of tableware now available to achieve them, represent a formidable opportunity for cognitive scientists to study the more complex effects of vision on food experiences, which certainly should not be missed. Chefs can also benefit from the new insights that a scientific approach can bring to these areas, which previously have often been left to intuition. In this manifesto, we claim that this transfer of knowledge represents much more than merely another addition to the art and science of cuisine: it is its essential completion, as gastronomy moves more and more toward the ideal of a total multisensory art, as captivating for the eye as it is for the palate. Before turning to the scientific recommendations and review in the second part of our manifesto, we want to promote a different approach to plating, which breaks with the more functional and decorative purposes of plate ware, and puts experiments in visual presentation at the heart of modernist culinary expression.

The joint investigation of the product, the consumer, and the consumption context is necessary for furthering the understanding of eating occasions (snacks and main meals), including their construction and enjoyment. The study of people’s experience of eating occasions is less advanced than the understanding of acceptability, preference, and choice of individual food/beverage items and/or their combination in meals. The current research contributes to narrowing this gap by focusing on emotions as a dimension of eating experiences and enjoyment. Under evoked consumption contexts (breakfast, lunch, afternoon snack, dinner), the emotion associations for several products (potato crisps, chocolate brownie, and kiwifruit) were obtained from consumers (n = 399) using a questionnaire method. Emotion associations were explored in relation to: (1) the way in which the food stimulus was evaluated by participants (tasting food vs. seeing a food image); (2) the serving presentation of the food stimulus (image of food shown in isolation vs. image of food served on a plate with cutlery); and (3) the means in which the consumption context was evoked (written vs. written and pictorial). Consumers’ product emotion associations when tasting a food stimulus vs. seeing an image of the same food were highly similar. There was some evidence that more specific means of presenting the food stimuli (with tableware vs. without tableware) and consumption contexts (written and pictorially vs. written only) influenced perceived appropriateness of the product in the focal consumption context. This resulted, for example, in a higher frequency of use of negative emotion terms in the less appropriate consumption contexts. Overall, through the use of evoked consumption contexts this research has contributed new understanding of product-specific emotional associations during eating occasions from a methodological approach. In addition to the aforementioned results a more general finding was the apparent reliance by participants on past product experiences when completing the emotion questionnaire.

This chapter presents an overview of the latest evidence regarding the role of multisensory integration in food perception and satiety. It summarizes the existing evidence of mainly two types of exteroceptive cues on food perception and intake: colour (variety) and haptic information (weight). The chapter demonstrates how important each of these senses (e.g. vision and touch) is to the overall food experience. It outlines the main theories of the interacting mechanisms that explain how variety in food affects consumption. The chapter describes the effect of colour on sensory‐specific satiety (SSS), the impact of colour monotony on intake, and the effect of the display and number of colours on consumption. It also describes the fewer accounts on the effect of haptic cues (what we perceive through the hands) on food perception, expected satiety, and fullness.

Matcha tea is gaining popularity throughout the world in recent years and is frequently referred to as a mood-and-brain food. Previous research has demonstrated that three constituents present in matcha tea, l-theanine, epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), and caffeine, affect mood and cognitive performance. However, to date there are no studies assessing the effect of matcha tea itself. The present study investigates these effects by means of a human intervention study administering matcha tea and a matcha containing product. Using a randomized, placebo-controlled, single-blind study, 23 consumers participated in four test sessions. In each session, participants consumed one of the four test products: matcha tea, matcha tea bar (each containing 4g matcha tea powder), placebo tea, or placebo bar. The assessment was performed at baseline and 60min post-treatment. The participants performed a set of cognitive tests assessing attention, information processing, working memory, and episodic memory. The mood state was measured by means of a Profile of Mood States (POMS). After consuming the matcha products compared to placebo versions, there were mainly significant improvements in tasks measuring basic attention abilities and psychomotor speed in response to stimuli over a defined period of time. In contrast to expectations, the effect was barely present in the other cognitive tasks. The POMS results revealed no significant changes in mood. The influence of the food matrix was demonstrated by the fact that on most cognitive performance measures the drink format outperformed the bar format, particularly in tasks measuring speed of spatial working memory and delayed picture recognition. This study suggests that matcha tea consumed in a realistic dose can induce slight effects on speed of attention and episodic secondary memory to a low degree. Further studies are required to elucidate the influences of the food matrix.

Consumers’ perception of, and behaviour towards, products are influenced by extrinsic cues, including packaging and social norms. However, the understanding of this process is unsatisfactorily captured by questionnaires. Autonomic nervous system (ANS) responses can be used to measure implicit consumer responses. The aim of this work was to assess how packaging cues and social norms influence product expectation, product perception, and ANS responses. Ninety-eight adults (age: 23.3 ± 3.2 years; BMI: 21.3 ± 2.2 kg/m2) first viewed four images of a yogurt package modified in hue (blue/red), brightness (high/low), and saturation (high/low) and two dummies alongside a fictitious product popularity score. After each image presentation, participants rated their expectations of the yogurt, tasted, and rated their perception of it. Expectations and the perception of liking, healthiness, sweetness, and flavour intensity were rated on 100-unit VAS scales. Heart rate (HR) and skin conductance response (SCR) to the image and tasting were measured. The darker, saturated red package elicited the lowest expectation of healthiness and the highest expectation of flavour intensity and sweetness. Red packages increased SCR while blue packages decreased them. During yogurt tasting, low product popularity was associated with a stronger decrease in SCR than a high popularity. Overall, the measured ANS responses were small. In conclusion, this study was the first to look at the effect of expectations elicited by a product’s packaging colour and popularity on explicit ratings and ANS responses. We found differences in SCR to package colour and product popularity, suggesting their importance in affecting consumer responses.