Factors that predict consumer acceptance of enriched processed meats

Using online attitudinal and completion test to understand the consumerś perception of probiotic dry-fermented sausage

This study aimed to assess consumer perceptions and the connections between consumers' health-related concerns and their perceptions of probiotic fermented sausage. The study was carried out using a 4-step online questionnaire composed of: (1) identification and recruitment; (2) application of the completion test; (3) attitudinal exploration; (4) socioeconomic inquiry. The online test was applied using images simulating the shopping experience of a couple in a supermarket. The situation demonstrated an incomplete dialog between them. The response evaluation focused on identifying the key factors influencing consumers' choices when purchasing fermented sausages, both traditional and probiotic. Sixteen categories emerged from the terms mentioned by consumers that encouraged (positive) or restricted (negative) the intention to purchase fermented sausage. Three different consumer groups were formed from the attitudinal profile results (High Health Concerned - HHC, Moderate Health Concerned - MHC, and Low Health Concerned - LHC). Among the positive categories, "healthy" and "curiosity" stood out in encouraging the purchase of probiotic fermented sausages. On the other hand, negative categories, which restrict the purchase of probiotic fermented sausages, were primarily attributed to consumers' lack of knowledge about probiotics and to the belief that the functional product has "unpleasant taste". Consumers with different health concerns exhibited distinctive perceptions of probiotic fermented sausage. To successfully introduce functional fermented sausage into the market, a multifaceted marketing approach is needed. Regardless of the level of health awareness, the education of consumers about the health benefits and the sensory attributes is crucial for the market of probiotic fermented sausage.

Consumer acceptance and quality of game meat "droëwors" sausages with different levels of added fat

Droëwors (dried sausage) is a unique dried meat product from South Africa, which is not smoked, fermented, nor is nitrite used in its production. The objective of the study was to compare the quality parameters and consumer acceptance of common eland meat droëwors with different quantities of added beef fat. Three treatments containing either 10, 15, or 20% (by weight) added beef fat were compared regarding chemical composition, fatty acid profiles, and sensory properties. Increasing the amount of fat in the dried product resulted in a significant decrease in the protein and ash percentages. The sausages with 10% added fat had the most favourable fatty acid profile in terms of nutritional value. Several differences were found in the sensory profiles of the products evaluated by the trained sensory panel; in particular, the evaluation scores for texture improved with increasing fat content. No differences were found between the products by the untrained consumer panel for appearance and taste. When the dataset was analysed according to gender, it was found that women evaluated the 10% fat samples more favourably. This is in line with their stated preference for low-fat meat products. For these reasons, the production of sausages with the lowest fat content can be recommended as they best meet consumer expectations.

A Comparative Study of Freshwater Fish Burgers Made from Three Amazonian Species: Omega 3 Fortification and Sodium Reduction

This study aimed to formulate burgers made from three Amazonian fish species: pacu (Pyaractus brachypomus), boquichico (Prochilodus nigricans), and bujurqui (Chaetobranchus flavescens), focusing on sodium reduction and fortification with fish oil microparticles (FOM) rich in eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). The proximal composition, sodium and calcium content, instrumental texture profile, fatty acid profile, sensory profile, and overall liking were evaluated. Differences in proximal composition and fatty acid profiles between the fillets were reflected in the burgers. Fortification with FOM increased EPA and DHA in the burgers; thus, they can be considered "high in omega-3 fatty acids" and reduced the n-6/n-3 ratio below 4. There were sensory attributes that could be related to lipid oxidation but reduced overall liking for less than 10% of consumers. Nevertheless, certain sensory attributes (grilled, characteristic, aromatic, tasty, tender, and juicy) had a positive impact on the overall liking of more than 20% of consumers, yielding adequate scores (between 5.60 and 5.71) on the 9-point hedonic scale. The production process must be optimized by knowing the fish fillet quality in depth, improving the FOM and burgers' oxidative stability, and achieving an adequate sensory and hedonic profile by employing consumers' vocabulary to characterize new products.

Consumption Expenditure on Processed Meat and Its Correlates: An Ethnic Comparison

Background: The objective of the present study is to investigate the influences of sociodemographic and household factors on consumption expenditure on processed meat among households in Malaysia.Methods: Data were extracted from the Malaysian Household Expenditure Survey (HES) 2016. Lognormal hurdle models were utilized to assess the likelihood of consuming processed meat and the amount consumed. The independent variables consisted of household heads' age, educational level, gender, marital status, employment status, ethnicity, as well as household income, household region and household locality.Results: Bumiputera households with younger heads were more likely to consume processed meat and spent more than households with older heads. Chinese and Indian households in a higher income group had a higher likelihood of consuming and spending on processed meat than those in a lower income group. The probability of consuming processed meat and the amount consumed were positively associated with being from East Malaysia and urban areas.Conclusions: There are distinguished roles of sociodemographic and household factors across ethnic groups in consumption expenditure on processed meat. Policy makers should take account of age, income, education, household region and household locality factors when formulating intervention measures.

The Effects of Nutrition and Health Claim Information on Consumers’ Sensory Preferences and Willingness to Pay

As marketing tools, nutrition claims (NCs) and health claims (HCs) can be used to convey the nutritional properties and health benefits of food to consumers, but their respective effects on consumers’ perceptions of healthier meat products are inconsistent in the literature. Using a physical prototype of omega-3-enriched sausages as a research interest, this paper explores how HCs and NCs differently influence consumers’ sensory preferences and willingness to pay (WTP). Sensory tests were carried out among 330 participants, followed by a choice-based conjoint (CBC) experiment to measure consumers’ WTP. Results indicate that, in comparison with the uninformed condition, labeling an omega-3 nutrition claim increased consumers’ sensory liking for omega-3-enriched sausages in the attributes of appearance and texture. Moreover, consumers were willing to pay more for healthier sausages, but labeling HCs did not significantly improve participants’ WTP for omega-3-enriched sausages more than NCs. Hence, HCs did not significantly outperform NCs, when it comes to positively influencing consumers’ sensory liking and paying intentions for omega-3-enriched sausages. The findings of this study have implications for the meat industry in developing healthier sausage formulations with greater likelihood of success in the market.

Development of Healthier and Functional Dry Fermented Sausages: Present and Future

In recent years, consumer perception about the healthiness of meat products has changed. In this scenario, the meat industry and the scientific and technological areas have put their efforts into improving meat products and achieving healthier and functional formulations that meet the demands of today’s market and consumers. This article aims to review the current functional fermented meat products, especially on sausage development. Firstly, an emphasis is given to reducing and replacing traditional ingredients associated with increased risk to consumer’s health (sodium, fat, and nitrites), adding functional components (prebiotics, probiotics, symbiotics, and polyphenols), and inducing health benefits. Secondly, a look at future fermented sausages is provided by mentioning emerging strategies to produce innovative healthier and functional meat products. Additional recommendations were also included to assist researchers in further development of healthier and functional sausages.

Consumer Acceptance toward Functional Foods: A Scoping Review

Chronic diseases (e.g., heart disease, cancer, diabetes) are of major public concern. Such chronic diseases are often caused by a dietary pattern characterized as relatively high in fat, refined sugar, salt, and cholesterol. Societal interest in consuming healthy foods and the demand for healthy food products have increased significantly. As a result, functional foods have gained significant research attention in the food health and technology innovations field. To date, many studies have investigated the factors that may predict consumer acceptance of functional foods, and a wide range of influential factors have been reported. However, studies conducted in different contexts pose challenges to gaining a clear understanding of the factors influencing consumer acceptance. Therefore, the purpose of our scoping review was to synthesize the possible determinants of consumer acceptance toward functional foods and provide a resource that describes global trends regarding consumers' functional foods behavior. We identified 75 articles published with varying populations around the globe that empirically investigated consumers' acceptance of functional foods. We identified and categorized a wide range of determinants related to consumer acceptance of different types of functional foods. The five categories of determinants were product characteristics, socio-demographic characteristics, psychological characteristics, behavioral characteristics, and physical characteristics. Each of the determinants were more fully described by sub-determinants in our scoping review. These determinants should be considered and used by leaders and scientists in product development to aid decision making and, ultimately, the successful launch of novel functional foods.

Functional fermented meat products with probiotics-A review

Fermentation has been an important strategy in the preservation of foods. The use of starter cultures with probiotic activity has gained the attention of researchers to produce functional fermented meat products. This review aims to overview the main strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats of fermented meat products with probiotics. Fermented meat products can be considered as a relevant matrix for the delivery of probiotics with potential health benefits. Moreover, fermented meat products produced by traditional methods are sources of probiotics that can be explored in the production of functional meat products. However, some barriers are limit the progression with these products: the complex selection process to obtain new and tailored probiotic strains, the current perception of healthiness associated with meat and meat products, and the limited application of probiotic to fermented sausages. Promising opportunities to improve the value of functional fermented meat products have been developed by exploring new meat products as functional fermented foods, improving the protection of probiotics with microencapsulation and improving the quality of meat product (reducing nitrate and nitrate salts, adding dietary fibre, and exploring the inherent antioxidant and cardioprotective activity of meat products). Attention to potential threats is also indicated such as the unclear future changes in meat and meat products consumption due to changes in consumer preferences and the presence of competitors (dairy, fruit and vegetable-based products, for instance) in more advanced stages of development and commercialization. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF STUDY: This review provides an overview of the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities and Threats related to the development of functional fermented meat products with probiotics. Internal and external factors that explain the current scenario and strategies to advance the production are highlighted.

Impact of Purchase Preference, Perceived Value, and Marketing Mix on Purchase Intention and Willingness to Pay for Pork

This study explored the effects of purchase preference, perceived value, and marketing mix on consumers’ purchase intention and willingness to pay for pork in Taiwan. A questionnaire was distributed to pork consumers in an online platform, and a total of 1042 valid samples were collected. An analysis of the questionnaire responses revealed three purchase preference factors, namely flavour, certification marks, and added features; four perceived value factors, namely functional, social, conditional, and emotional value; and four marketing mix factors, namely promotion, convenience, product, and price marketing. Functional value, purchase frequency, conditional value, and product marketing positively affected purchase intention. Promotional marketing, monthly disposable income, and social value were the main positive factors in increased willingness to pay. Consumers who were men, had a lower educational level, purchased large quantities of pork at one time, or frequently purchased pork exhibited higher purchase intention than did other consumers. Those who were men, had higher educational attainment, had a higher monthly disposable income, or held a management position were more willing to purchase pork at a premium price.

The usual suspect: How to co-create healthier meat products

Healthier meat products have a major economic potential and are attracting considerable research and media attention to meet the growing and complex consumer demand. Whether this potential will be realized and at what speed is contingent on consumers' acceptance of these novel foods. This study uses a cross-cultural context to co-create new healthier meat products, while mapping the conditions leading to consumers' product acceptance (vs. rejection). Results from online focus groups conducted in Denmark, Spain and the United Kingdom show that consumers generally have a negative attitude toward healthier meat products due to unfamiliarity and perception of over-processing. Nevertheless, partial meat-substitution with plant-based ingredients together with fat and salt reduction show specific conditions under which consumers' acceptance would be possible. This is further related to product-specific factors: ingredients and base meat, and marketing-related factors: labelling and packaging. Finally, implications and recommendations for the manufacturing and marketing of new healthier meat products are provided.

Metabolic and satiating effects and consumer acceptance of a fibre-enriched Leberkas meal: a randomized cross-over trial

PURPOSE

The Western diet is poor in dietary fibre and previous efforts to increase fibre intake were not successful. The aim of this study was to develop sensorically appealing, fibre-enriched convenience foods. As a showcase, we prepared a fibre-enriched, fat-reduced Leberkas served in a roll and compared the reformulated product with the standard product.

METHODS

The design was a randomized, single-blinded cross-over study. A Leberkas meal enriched with 19.2 g of wheat fibre and resistant dextrin as well as fat- and energy-reduced (30% less calories) was served to 20 middle-aged healthy volunteers (10 male, 10 female) and compared to the standard product in a random order. Blood was repeatedly taken over a 4 h period to measure metabolic parameters as well as satiety hormones, such as glucagon-like-peptide 1, cholecystokinin, peptide YY. Satiety and consumer acceptance of the fibre-enriched meal were assessed by visual analogue scales and a questionnaire.

RESULTS

The fibre-enriched meal showed very small significant effects at only single time points in postprandial blood glucose (at 120 min, p = 0.050) and glucose_AUC fibre 22,079 ± 2819, standard 22,912 ± 3583 (p = 0.030). The profiles of satiety hormones were comparable between both meals. No differences in subjective satiation, taste and consumer acceptance were observed between the two products, despite a marked reduction in fat and energy content of the reformulated product.

CONCLUSION

It is possible to enrich a popular convenience product with dietary fibre and to markedly reduce energy content without loss of sensory qualities or satiety suggesting that development and promotion of healthier convenience foods may be a useful strategy to tackle obesity and other diet-related diseases.

Part Meat and Part Plant: Are Hybrid Meat Products Fad or Future?

There is a growing interest in flexitarian diets, which has resulted in the commercialisation of new hybrid meat products, containing both meat and plant-based ingredients. Consumer attitudes towards hybrid meat products have not been explored, and it is not clear which factors could affect the success of such products. This study is the first to overview of the UK hybrid meat product market and to explore consumer's attitudes towards hybrid meat products in 201 online reviews, using tools and techniques of corpus linguistics (language analysis). In the positive reviews, consumers emphasised the taste dimension of the hybrid meat products, seeing them as healthier options with good texture and easy to prepare. The negative reviews related to the poor sensory quality and not to the concept of hybridity itself. Using a multidisciplinary approach, our findings revealed valuable insights into consumer attitudes and highlighted factors to consider to market new hybrid meat products effectively.

Autochthonous Probiotics in Meat Products: Selection, Identification, and Their Use as Starter Culture

The increasing demand for functional food is pushing the food industry to innovate the conventional and well-known foods. Producing functional foods, especially with probiotics in meat products, is an intricate and multistage task that involves: the selection of microorganisms with probiotic potential, the identification at strain level, and the evaluation of probiotic strains in the processing of meat products. The resistance to digestion, followed by the successful colonization in the small intestine and the safety are the main criteria used to select and identify (at strain level) a probiotic, as reported in recent studies about the autochthonous microbiota of meat products. Further insertion (as starter culture) in a meat system for fermentation is the simplest approach to obtain a probiotic meat product. Among the innumerous microorganisms naturally found in meat products, lactic acid bacteria (LAB) play a central role by fitting in both probiotic and meat products processing criteria.

The Reformulation of a Beef Patty Enriched with n-3 Fatty Acids and Vitamin D3 Influences Consumers' Response under Different Information Scenarios

The objective of this study was to investigate the sensory acceptability and willingness to pay (WTP) for a beef patty elaborated with beef from a local breed that was enriched with nutritional ingredients (vegetable oil mixture and vitamin D₃). The experiment was conducted under two information scenarios (blind; full: ingredients used to enrich the patties in n-3 PUFA and vitamin D₃). An in-home use test was carried out by 180 consumers to study consumer liking of two low-fat beef patties (C: conventional, M: modified). There were no differences in color and odor for the raw patties (p > 0.05). The sensory parameters of the cooked patties were assessed as being similar (p > 0.05) regardless of the information scenario. The sensory parameters remained crucial criteria for product acceptance and repeat purchase. Consumers positively evaluated the M patty. The information provided to consumers on the composition of the product influenced the response of consumers. It was also observed that the higher the education level of the consumer, the higher their scores for M beef patties in the blind scenario. It is thus necessary to implement appropriate marketing strategies in order to highlight the nutritional properties of the modified patties, making them competitive ahead of conventional patties.

The credibility of the effects of functional food products and consumers' willingness to purchase/willingness to pay- review

The credibility aspect of any food product is important in order to find and keep consumers, which is especially true for functional foods. Market success of these products depends mostly on the credibility of their beneficial effects on health. The aim of this literature review was to identify aspects that make the positive health effect of a functional product credible for consumers. Based on the established connection between purchase intention and credibility, articles have been collected, summarized and restructured. Research papers have been analyzed through a two-step selection process. From 1724 studies, 54 were selected to discuss the above mentioned topics. It has been found that most of the studies focus on the credibility of health claims, while those exploring the connection between different kinds of product attributes and the credibility aspect of functional food products are rare. It is believed that other features can significantly affect this aspect and it is strategically important to know these factors influencing credibility. The literature analysis showed that willingness to purchase functional products is influenced by sensory and non-sensory-characteristics of the product, while willingness to pay is affected for example by consumers' trust in functional foods. On the issue of what influences the credibility of the health benefits of functional products, ambiguous information was found. While one of the most important factors influencing acceptance of functional foods is credibility of information, other researchers' results show no direct significant relationship between credibility of health claims and willingness to purchase. Credibility of health effect is also influenced by the base product and the carrier ingredient, the source of information, the product design and cultural roots of a country.

Health-related messages in the labeling of processed meat products: a market evaluation

Background

Food labeling is an important communication tool for the exposure of nutrition information in foods.

Objective

The presence of labeling messages related to nutrients, health properties, allergens, and additives in meat products marketed in Spain was analyzed in this work. The data collection was done through the web pages of six Spanish meat industries, and 642 products were gathered. The following labeling information was collected: the presence of nutrition claims, the presence of health claims, messages indicating the absence of additives, and those reporting the absence or presence of allergenic substances.

Results

A total of 1,254 messages were found with the following distribution: 72% were related to the presence/absence of allergens, 19% were nutrition claims, 8% were messages related to the absence of additives, and only 0.4% were health claims. Fat was the nutrient most frequently referred in the nutrition claims, accounting for a 63.5% of this type of claims, with the expression ‘low-fat’, as the most used (42% of total nutrition claims). Prevalence of processed meat products that showed nutrition claims was 29%, whereas the percentage of products that showed information about allergenic compounds was 83%.

Conclusion

This work provides information about the presence of health-related messages in a high number of meat products, which could be useful as a tool for marketing purposes or for consumer trends evaluation studies.

What are the key factors influencing consumers' preference and willingness to pay for meat products in Eastern DRC?

Dietary patterns for consumers among the elite and middle-income classes in developing countries are shifting rapidly toward the consumption of more animal-based products. Although this shift presents opportunities, there are significant market failures affecting their preferences and willingness to pay (WTP). This study used a multistage sample survey of 309 consumers from three different communities of Bukavu, Eastern DRC, to examine the effect of socioeconomic/socio-demographic characteristics and quality attributes on consumers' purchasing decisions and WTP for meat products. The results suggested that about 53% of the respondents were dissatisfied with meat products in the market due to their high price, low quantity, unhealthiness, and harmful effects. Older female respondents living in urban areas were more likely to purchase meat products. Their WTP was significantly determined by attributes such as color, in-mouth texture, and availability. Nutrition, harmful effects, and availability of meat products are the important factors that influence purchasing decisions among higher income groups. Addressing these market failures could have an impact on the meat market, improving the nutrition of low-income consumers and ensuring food safety standards in DRC and other developing countries with similar challenges.