Sustainable and health claims vs sensory properties: Consumers’ opinions and choices using a vegetable dip as example product

Abstract

New foods development is always challenging, and including consumers’ opinion during the design process is crucial to increase a successful welcome of the product in the market. During the present study, a whole product design and development process is described, including consumers’ insights collected from focus groups, a national online survey, and a final sensory consumer study of the developed vegetable dip. The aim of the study was to determine if some of the extrinsic properties of a product developed using discarded parts of fruits and vegetables had an impact on the final product acceptance, or if the intrinsic properties were the main drivers of the acceptance. The experimental design included four focus groups to study consumers’ ideas about products made with sustainable ingredients and which may have health benefits. Then, a national survey was conducted to test the best messages associated to the new food. A vegetable dip was developed, using consumers’ insights, and a consumer study was conducted to test the impact of three different messages associated with the product. Results of the survey showed three consumers’ segments with different interests on the concepts associated with the products, being two of the clusters potential consumers of the new vegetable dip. Results of the consumer study showed that, although consumers belonged to these segments in which the extrinsic properties seemed to be important, the 3 tested messages were similarly accepted.