Do Consumers Change Their Perception of Liking, Expected Satiety, and Healthiness of a Product If They Know It Is a Ready-to Eat Meal?

© 2020 by the authors.
A ready-to-eat meal is a prepared meal within a container or package that requires little preparation or heating before consumption. Despite ready-to-eat meals being widely consumed, to date, little information is available on the consumers’ perceptions of such products in comparison to a homemade meal. Thus, three groups of eighty participants took part in the present study; each group evaluated five ready-to-eat meals (Pasta, Meatballs, Salad, Beans, and a Sandwich) using one of the following conditions: (i) observation of the packaging, (ii) observation of the meal on a plate (photographs), and (iii) tasting the ready-to-eat product with the packaging being presented alongside the meal. Consumers were asked about their liking, satiety, and healthiness perception. The results showed that both the ready-to-eat pack and sensory quality of the product highly impact liking and healthiness perceptions. Being a ready-to-eat meal in a pack has a negative impact on liking expectations of the meal; however, the sensory quality can either counteract these effects or increase them. Expected satiety of meals depends on the type of meal and varies slightly according to the evaluation condition.
Authors are grateful to the Spanish Ministry of the Economy and Competitiveness for financial support (project AGL-2016-75403-R) (support of EU FEDER funds).