Virgin olive oil color and perceived quality among consumers in emerging olive-growing countries

Abstract

SUMMARY:Five virgin olive oil samples were evaluated by 122 consumers for their color acceptability and expected quality on 9-point structured scales. A description of the attributes expected in the different oils was obtained from the responding consumers by means of a check-all-that-apply questionnaire consisting of a list of 17 possible virgin olive oil attributes. Hierarchical cluster analysis led to the identification of two consumer clusters with distinct behavior. Whereas one consumer cluster attributed higher quality to those oils that were greener in color, which they described as tasty, rich-flavored, strong-tasting, herb-flavored and expensive, consumers in the other cluster assumed that greener olive oils were of a poorer quality, as they described them as strange-tasting, strong-tasting, herb-tasting and defective. Despite the contrasting perception of a virgin olive oil's green color, the respondents, irrespective of cluster, presumed that the virgin olive oil that was the yellowest in color was of poor quality and cheap, also assuming that it had a milder taste than the other oils. KEYWORDS:Color; Consumer; Olive oil; Sensory evaluation RESUMEN: Influencia del color en la calidad del aceite de oliva virgen percibida por consumidores de un país con olivicultura emergente. 122 consumidores evaluaron el color de 5 muestras de aceite de oliva virgen, midiendo su aceptabilidad y la calidad esperada por medio de una escala estructurada de 9 puntos y describiéndolas por medio de preguntas "marque todo lo que corresponde" que consiste en una lista de 17 términos posibles para atributos de aceites de oliva extra vírgenes. Mediante un análisis de conglomerados jerárquico se identificó a dos grupos de consumidores Los consumidores de ambos grupos consideraron que los aceites más amarillos eran de baja calidad, describiéndolos como baratos y de gusto suave. Un grupo de consumidores asignó puntuaciones de calidad alta a todos los aceites con colores verdes, describiéndolos como sabrosos, aromáticos, con gusto fuerte, con sabor a hierba y caros. El otro grupo de consumidores consideró que los aceites de color verde más intenso eran también de baja calidad, describiéndolos como con sabor extraño, con gusto fuerte, con sabor a hierba y defectuosos. Este estudio demuestra que en los países con olivicultura emergente pero con poca tradición de consumo de aceite de oliva, los consumidores aún no tienen preferencias comerciales claras sobre el color de este producto, aunque coinciden en rechazar y considerar como de baja calidad a los aceites de oliva amarillos posiblemente por asociarlos con los aceites de semillas que habitualmente se encuentran en el mercado. PALABRAS CLAVE: Aceite de oliva; Color; Consumidores; Evaluación sensorialCitation/Cómo citar este artículo: Gámbaro A, Raggio L, Ellis AC, Amarillo M. Virgin olive oil color and perceived quality among consumers in emerging olive-growing countries. Grasas Aceites 65 (2): e023. doi: http://dx.doi.

Segmenting Olive Oil Consumers Based on Consumption and Preferences toward Extrinsic, Intrinsic and Sensorial Attributes of Olive Oil

“…The perspective of the German market has great potential for Croatian olive oils, since the surveyed consumers evaluated the regional and micro-localities of production highly in the context of Croatia as a country of production, similarly to the findings of [10,13], whereas country and region of production can be used in marketing strategies. For local Croatian farmers, the importance of local production for German consumers assures the sustainability of local production.…”

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Non-Invasive Rapid Method to Evaluate Tunisian Virgin Olive Oil Based on color Measurement by Digital Images and Chlorophyll-Carotenoids Content

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Does Authenticity of Virgin Olive Oil Sensory Quality Require Input from Chemistry?

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