Check-all-that-apply (CATA) questions could be a simple alternative to get an insight on consumer perception of a food product. In the present work, CATA questions were used in the development of chocolate milk desserts. Nine chocolate milk desserts were formulated with different sugar and cacao concentration. A consumer study was performed with 70 people, who were asked to score their overall liking and to answer a CATA question that included 18 sensory and hedonic terms. Besides, the samples were evaluated by a trained assessors' panel. Highly significant differences were found in the frequencies in which CATA terms were used for describing the nine desserts, suggesting that this methodology was able to detect differences in consumer perception of the desserts. Sample configuration from consumers' CATA counts and trained assessors data were similar, suggesting a good agreement between both evaluations.
PRACTICAL APPLICATIONSThe use of a CATA question resulted in a simple and valid approach to gather information about consumers' perception of the product, including both 4 Corresponding their sensory and hedonic impression. This methodology enabled the direct identification of drivers of liking for groups of consumers with different preference patterns. Considering results from the present study, the use of CATA questions could be an interesting methodology to obtain a sensory map based only on consumer perception of the products and to perform external preference mapping when a sensory trained panel is not available.
68G. ARES ET AL.
Consumer perception of food products is a very complex phenomenon that is influenced by a wide range of characteristics. In particular, consumer perception of the sensory characteristics of food products can be strongly affected by information and expectations. Thus, the comparison of product characterizations from blind and informed conditions can provide a valuable insight about the impact of information on consumer perception of food products. In this context, the aim of the present work was to present a case study in which the influence of information on results of product characterizations of milk desserts from two methodologies, check-all-that-apply (CATA) questions and sorting, was studied. Six commercial vanilla milk desserts were evaluated under blind and informed conditions by two groups of 50 consumers using CATA questions and sorting. Results showed that information had a small impact on overall liking scores and product characterizations, suggesting that consumers' perception of the desserts was mainly determined by their sensory characteristics.
PRACTICAL APPLICATIONSThe influence of information was larger for the sorting task than for check-allthat-apply question, as expected, due to the fact that this last methodology was based exclusively on the perception of the sensory characteristics of the samples. Sorting tasks showed that consumers' categorizations under informed conditions were mainly related to the samples' sensory characteristics, and that information only had a limited influence. The comparison of blind and informed sorting tasks might enable one to determine the relative influence of package information on consumer perception of food products, which may be an interesting way of studying the impact of previous expectations and nonsensory variables on consumer perception. bs_bs_banner
Journal of Sensory Studies
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