Food product quality, environmental and personal characteristics affecting consumer perception toward food

Abstract

Food industries are developing new processing technologies, resulting in the emergence of new product categories, including ready-to-eat meals, functional foods and beverages, and plant-based foods, etc. Rapid globalization, changes in lifestyle, consumer awareness, and perception toward food drive further technical advancements. However, consumer perception remains the prime factor for food marketing and technological development. Consumer perception is a trifecta of sensory properties, personal and environmental factors. Sensory and personal factors include consumer age, attitude, health condition, nutrition awareness, and religion which directly influence consumer choice. Whereas environmental factors consist of regional variation in the food process, national economic status, and consumer purchasing power. All these factors affect consumers’ decisions to accept or reject foods. Additionally, consumers are more willing to taste innovative food products that assure the safety and quality of the product.

Labeled Hedonic Scale for the Evaluation of Sensory Perception and Acceptance of an Aromatic Myrtle Bitter Liqueur in Consumers with Chemosensory Deficits

“…Sensory properties of foods are principally the outcome of the interaction of food characteristics/quality (such as physical structure and chemical/nutritional properties) and the consumer's characteristics (gender, age, attitude, and physiological/psychological state) and its environment (family, cultural traditions, and education) [1][2][3][4][5]40]. Among sensory and personal factors, health conditions significantly influence consumer choice [3,40]. It has been reported that the decline in olfactory and gustatory function greatly affects food sensory perception and eating behavior [6][7][8][9][10][11][13][14][15][16]].…”

Effects of Edible Organic Acid Soaking on Color, Protein Physicochemical, and Digestion Characteristics of Ready-to-Eat Shrimp upon Processing and Sterilization

“…Compared to dried shrimp, RTE shrimp has a higher moisture content and good taste. The sensory properties of RTE shrimp, which include many factors such as color, flavor, and texture, are of great importance to consumers [5]. Due to the action of astaxanthin, boiled shrimp has a bright pink color.…”

Study on the evaluation method of cigarette astringency in the simulated oral environment

“…Commodity flavor and texture significantly influence consumer choice (Byrne, 2020; Rai et al, 2023), with these sensory properties—such as sourness, sweetness, bitterness, saltiness, and freshness—primarily detected by the taste buds on the tongue. Established methods are available to assess these flavors (Fan et al, 2023; Song et al, 2023; Yang et al, 2022; Yu et al, 2023; Zheng et al, 2023), but other properties such as astringency and smoothness are challenging to characterize with conventional techniques.…”