Jean François Meullenet

Effect of Organic Poultry Purchase Frequency on Consumer Attitudes Toward Organic Poultry Meat

UNLABELLEDnBecause of the growing consumers interest in organic meat, consumers (N = 976) attitude toward organic meat was evaluated. Most respondents (59%) occasionally purchased organic chicken. To determine the organic chicken consumer profile, the organic chicken consumption frequencies of different demographic groups were compared. The results show dependence on age (P= 0.039) and ethnicity (P = 0.015). Older respondents as well as respondents who identified themselves as Caucasians tended to buy organic chicken more frequently. However, many other socio-demographic factors were not correlated with organic chicken consumption: gender (P = 0.185), education (P = 0.235), household income (0.867), living with partner or not (P = 0.235), and number of children (P = 0.883). Taste was identified as the most important meat quality attribute (perceived as [very] important by 94% of the respondents). Other important meat quality criteria were: general appearance, overall health, price, nutritional value, and containing no medical residues. Organically produced appeared to not be that important compared with other criteria. When respondents bought organic chicken more often, the importance of most of the meat quality attributes shifted to higher levels of importance, except for the price where an adverse effect was shown. The main motivation factors to buy organic chicken were the perception that organic chicken has fewer residues (pesticides, hormones, antibiotics), is safer, and healthier. The high price for organic meats was the strongest limiting factor for organic meat purchases followed by poor availability. Approximately 41% of the non-buyers and 30% of the occasional buyers perceived organic meat as not or hardly likely to be available in their supermarket.nnnPRACTICAL APPLICATIONnThis study obtained a better knowledge of consumers attitudes and perception of organic chicken as well as the effect of various demographics on the likelihood of buying organic chicken. For marketing purposes of organic meats, it helps to know which attributes consumers perceive as important, where the consumer purchases organic chicken, and what the perceived availability of organic chicken is. Additionally, the motivation and deterrent factors are described indicating why the consumer does or does not purchase organic chicken. This information can be valuable to help promoting organic meats to the consumers.

Compositional and Sensory Impacts from Blending Red Wine Varietals

Wine consumers are interested in components of red wines that contribute to health effects, flavor, and color. Three Vitis vinifera wines (Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Zinfandel) were blended using formulas created by an augmented simplex centroid mixture design, resulting in 10 wines (three single-component wines, three binary blends, and four tertiary blends). Compositional and color components of the wines were analyzed during 12 months of storage at 15°C with descriptive analysis and consumer evaluations at 30 days. Blending impacted compositional components and sensory profiles of the wines. During 12 months of storage, the blended wines exhibited similar compositional and color changes as their single counterparts; total anthocyanin content decreased and red color density and percent polymeric color increased. The primary anthocyanins detected in the wines by HPLC analysis were malvidin-3-O-monoglucoside, typical of V. vinifera. The anthocyanins decreased during storage with the formation of pyranoanthocyanins from condensation reactions. When descriptive and compositional analysis were compared, red color intensity and depth of color were correlated (r > 0.85) with clarity, flavor intensity, red color density, L*, chroma, total anthocyanin content, and polymeric color content. When consumer evaluations and compositional analysis were compared, consumer liking of appearance of the wines was positively correlated to red color density (r = 0.83), total anthocyanins (r = 0.85) and percent polymeric color (r = 0.93) and negatively correlated to L*(r = 0.99), chroma (r = 0.91), and hue (r = 0.99). Blending light-bodied wine with full-bodied wine positively affected consumer acceptance. Sensory and compositional data can be used to determine the overall impact of critical parameters for blending V. vinifera wines.

Sensory, Compositional, and Color Properties of Nutraceutical-Rich Juice Blends

Phytochemical-rich fruits may have health-related properties, which make juices of these fruits prime candidates for the nutraceutical market. Understanding consumer acceptance and compositional, color, and descriptive sensory changes during storage is crucial to the success of nutraceutical-rich juices. Juices (blackberry, blueberry, and Concord grape) were blended according to the ABCD mixture design (three primary juices, three binary blends, and four tertiary blends). Prior to storage, a trained descriptive panel (n = 8) determined that Concord-containing blends were generally sweeter, less bitter, less astringent, and less sour than blackberry- or blueberry-containing blends. When relating compositional, color, and descriptive sensory characteristics, sweetness was inversely correlated to total phenolics (r = −0.88), total anthocyanins (r = −0.75), color density (r = −0.84), and astringency (r = −0.92) and positively correlated with soluble solids (r = 0.92) and polymeric color (r = 0.78). Consumers (n = 108) evaluated overall liking on a 9-point verbal hedonic scale. Average liking scores were high for 100% Concord juice (7.79), moderate for 100% blueberry juice (5.47), and low for 100% blackberry juice (2.95). Consumer acceptance was driven by soluble solids, total anthocyanins, purple color, red color, astringency, sweetness, and grape flavor. Compositional, color, and descriptive sensory changes were tracked during 200 days storage at 2°C and 21°C. Prior to storage, 100% blueberry juice had the highest total anthocyanins (67 mg/100 mL), 100% blackberry juice had the highest total phenolics (249 mg/100 mL), and 100% Concord juice had the highest polymeric color (23%). During storage, polymeric color increased as total anthocyanins decreased at 2°C and 21°C. Blending juices balanced nutraceutical enhancement and maintenance of consumer acceptance.

Color and illuminance level of lighting can modulate willingness to eat bell peppers

BACKGROUNDnFood products are often encountered under colored lighting, particularly in restaurants and retail stores. However, relatively little attention has been paid to whether the color of ambient lighting can affect consumers motivation for consumption. This study aimed to determine whether color (Experiment 1) and illuminance level (Experiment 2) of lighting can influence consumers liking of appearance and their willingness to eat bell peppers.nnnRESULTSnFor red, green, and yellow bell peppers, yellow and blue lighting conditions consistently increased participants liking of appearance the most and the least, respectively. Participants willingness to consume bell peppers increased the most under yellow lighting and the least under blue lighting. In addition, a dark condition (i.e. low level of lighting illuminance) decreased liking of appearance and willingness to eat the bell peppers compared to a bright condition (i.e. high level of lighting illuminance).nnnCONCLUSIONnOur findings demonstrate that lighting color and illuminance level can influence consumers hedonic impression and likelihood to consume bell peppers. Furthermore, the influences of color and illuminance level of lighting appear to be dependent on the surface color of bell peppers.

Physicochemical analysis of wheat flour fortified with vitamin A and three types of iron source and sensory analysis of bread using these flours

BACKGROUNDnWheat flour is increasingly being fortified worldwide with vitamin A and iron. Research on high levels of fortification is limited; therefore, in this study, wheat flour was made under controlled conditions fortified with vitamin A at 30u2009000 or 70u2009000 retinol equivalents (RE) kg⁻¹ and three types of iron source at 66 mg kg⁻¹.nnnRESULTSnMilling produced a uniform distribution of fortificants with no significant separation during packaging or transportation. Chemical and physical analyses demonstrated that the dual fortified flours had acceptable physicochemical properties of mixing tolerance, pasting curves, damaged starch and falling numbers. The level of vitamin A fortification compensated for initial loss caused during wheat processing. Overall, white breads baked from seven treatments of fortified flour had only 22% (eight out of 36) of the sensory attributes as being significantly different. However, the type of iron source may play a key role in modulating the sensory attributes of bread baked from the dual fortified flour with vitamin A and iron.nnnCONCLUSIONnThe findings suggest that dual fortified flour with high or even lower levels of vitamin A and iron could be considered for food fortification programmes to reduce the prevalence of micronutrient undernutrition of vitamin A and iron in developing countries.