The Attitudes of European Consumers Toward Innovation in Bread; Interest of the Consumers Toward Selected Quality Attributes

Abstract

This survey concerns industrial bread making and has been carried out within the European project entitled EU‐FRESHBAKE (October 2006 to October 2009), which concerns the bake‐off technology. This technology consists in producing bread at industrial level (frozen most of the time) and to retail the bread in “baking stations” or in small vending shops. The objectives of this survey were (1) to better understand the attitude of the European innovations in bread and (2) to understand the main determinants of it. Two main categories of consumers were observed; (1) frequent (daily) buyers with a focus on quality and pleasure and (2) less frequent buyers (once a week) with a more pronounced interest in nutrition, shelf life and energy (process). The first group was named the “crust group” and the second one the “crumb group.” The “crumb group” seems to be the one that is the most interested in the outcomes of the EU‐FRESHBAKE project. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS This survey brings interesting information regarding the expectations of EU consumers toward innovation in bread making. Bread is a very symbolic food, carrying a lot of messages coming from religion, social classification and from well being. Among the key messages to be withdrawn from this survey, it appears that northern and eastern Europe, and also the young population, are expecting from bread a food that must adapt to the constrain of life. It must have a long shelf life and it must carry a nutritional value. On the other hand, French and southern Europe countries are bringing more attention to the pleasure and to the freshness of the product. There is thus a complex matrix of social and qualitative attitudes toward bread from one country to the other. Innovation can be considered as a positive image in some countries, whereas it may have a very negative image in other countries.

Physico-chemical changes in breads from bake off technologies during storage

“…Breads from frozen partially baked bread are particularly sensitive to changes related to crust crispiness. Crust characteristics are decisive for the purchasing attitude of consumers of this type of product, which is based on the subjective fingers sensory perception (Lambert et al, 2009). A crispy texture is originated when starch and gluten matrix are in glassy state and it has been associated with low moisture content and water activity (Stokes & Donald, 2000).…”

Analysis of volatile organic compounds in crumb and crust of different baked and toasted gluten‐free breads by direct PTR‐ToF‐MS and fast‐GC‐PTR‐ToF‐MS

“…Up to the present, the improvement of gluten‐free bread aroma has been based on the modification of the baking process or on the addition of sugar‐amino acid pairs to encourage Maillard reactions . However, nowadays, a lot of consumers and thus food companies try to avoid products with synthetic additives used for the enhancement of the food quality looking for natural solutions for the improvement of the quality of fermented food . In addition, the use of a mixture of gluten‐free flours rather than 1 flour has been suggested by Arendt et al to achieve products with good sensory and textural properties.…”

Impact of Consumer Eating Habits and Fiber Content on Acceptance of Plain Wheat Rolls

“…The influence of eating habits on food choices and purchases is critical with regard to consumer acceptance of foods (17,31), and an increase in consumer acceptance related to habitual consumption has been observed (19). Previous experience with a food enables visual assessment of a product and prediction of its characteristics in a situation where it is not possible to taste the product.…”