Understanding Blood versus Blond Orange Consumption: A Cross-Cultural Study in Four Countries

Abstract

Understanding consumer perceptions and attitudes to specific fruit is key information for not only increasing fruit consumption, but also for marketing reasons. It may also give clues to breeders to set quality objectives. This study explores different aspects that help to explain blood vs. blond orange consumption: availability and consumption habit, satisfaction attributes, facilitators and consumption barriers, consumption contexts, expectations and purchase intention. The study was conducted in China, Mexico, Spain and Italy, where citrus fruit consumers were invited to respond an online questionnaire. Our results revealed Italy as the country with the highest availability and consumption of blood oranges, followed by China, Mexico and Spain. “Liking” and “healthy properties” were the most important reasons for consumption irrespectively of orange type, but certain differences among countries were detected in secondary reasons. In all the countries, “juicy” was the most relevant attribute for consumer satisfaction, followed by flavour/taste attributes. “Aromatic” and “unfibrous” were substantial requirements for Italians and Chinese, while Spaniards attached importance to the blood oranges colour. Regarding consumption contexts, “eat with salt or chilly powder” was specific for Mexico, while “to improve health”, “as a gift” or “at a restaurant” were contexts mainly cited in China. Despite taste preferences for other fruit being the main consumption barrier in all the countries for both orange types, the relevance of other barriers depended on culture and orange type. Mexican participants seemed to take a more neophobic attitude to blood oranges, while “inconvenient” was reported as a barrier for consuming blond ones in Spain and China. We conclude that blond and blood oranges can co-exist on markets at a high consumption rate, as in Italy. Specific interventions are needed in other countries because consumer attitudes to oranges, mainly blood ones, depend on culture.

Effect of Pulp Pigmentation Intensity on Consumer Acceptance of New Blood Mandarins: A Cross-Cultural Study in Spain and Italy

“…In recent years, several studies have evaluated the effect of different visual aspects, such as external colouration, gloss, skin dehydration or pulp colour (green/orange colour), on consumer expectations and their choice of traditional mandarins [6,26,31]. Most of these studies, which confirm the importance that consumers attach to fruit appearance, have been based on fruit images because their use allows responses to be obtained from more consumers and cross-cultural evaluations can be made [14,26]. Furthermore, editing images can be very useful for evaluating specific fruit appearance aspects [32,33].…”

“…The first red mandarin breeding programme was established in Italy [13], where most blood oranges originate and have a long-standing tradition in markets. In fact, a recent study with data from four countries (Italy, Spain, China and Mexico) has revealed Italy as the country with the greatest consumption of blood oranges, where 76% of the study's participants stated being habitual consumers of this kind of orange [14].…”

“…More recently, another programme to obtain pigmented mandarins has been established in Spain [15], where blood oranges are currently being introduced on markets and the consumption rate is still low at around 17% [14]. A range of new red varieties has been bred in the last few years at the Valencian Institute for Agricultural Research (IVIA) (Valencia, Spain) and is being evaluated.…”

“…It is important to consider that all consumer response-related aspects are influenced by their cultural background [14,25,26]. Cross-cultural studies allow differing patterns among consumer populations to be identified, which can help breeders and industries to adapt their products depending on their destination market.…”

Diversity of Mycotoxins and Other Secondary Metabolites Recovered from Blood Oranges Infected by Colletotrichum, Alternaria, and Penicillium Species

“…Among the Sicilian blood orange types, the most popular is ‘Tarocco’ which comprises numerous cultivars, differing in intensity of red pigmentation and ripening season, fruit shape and size, tree vigor, and productivity [ 8 ]. In recent years, blood oranges have gained vast popularity, and their consumption as fresh fruit or juice has increased and is extending to new countries [ 9 ].…”