The New Zealand Institute for Plant and Food Research Limited, Mt Albert Research Centre, Private Bag, 92169, Auckland 1142, New Zealand.
A.V. Cardello Consulting and Editing Services, Framingham, MA, USA.
Food Res Int. 2023 May;167:112666. doi: 10.1016/j.foodres.2023.112666. Epub 2023 Mar 11.
Plant-based (PB) yoghurts is a rapidly expanding food category with the potential to reduce many of the negative environmental impacts associated with the farming of dairy cattle and related greenhouse gas emissions. Within the context of growing consumer demand for PB products, this research aimed to identify the main drivers of consumer acceptance of PB yoghurts through data drawn from a consumer study of 113 adult New Zealand participants who tasted a representative range of commercially available vanilla-flavoured PB yoghurts, and provided sample evaluations using a multi-variable measurement approach comprised of liking ratings, emotional responses, sensory characterisations, and holistic / conceptual perceptions. The primary finding of this study was that the overall acceptability of currently available PB yoghurts is low, leading to poor attitudes and low willingness to consume PB yoghurts. The examined products were characterised by the presence of several sensory attributes that negatively impacted consumer liking, either because they were unexpected or because their intensity level was too high. Among the main sensory issues identified were perceived sourness (acidity), lumpy appearance and non-white colour. In contrast, vanilla flavour and a creamy/smooth texture were identified as the main drivers of liking. The multi-response approach used in this study enabled a comprehensive characterisation of the products. One of the key insights gained was that negative emotional activation, caused by the presence of unexpected sensory attributes in the samples, was the main driver of product rejection. This was likely due to the disparity between consumers' sensory expectations, formed primarily based on their experience with dairy yoghurts, and the actual experience upon tasting the PB yoghurts. Overall, the findings indicate that the sensory properties of currently available PB yoghurts are a significant barrier to their adoption by most consumers and that addressing these sensory deficiencies is essential to achieving mainstream market acceptance of these products.
植物基（PB）酸奶是一个快速发展的食品类别，有可能减少与奶牛养殖相关的许多负面环境影响和相关温室气体排放。在消费者对 PB 产品需求不断增长的背景下，本研究旨在通过对 113 名成年新西兰参与者进行的消费者研究数据，确定消费者接受 PB 酸奶的主要驱动因素。这些参与者品尝了一系列具有代表性的市售香草味 PB 酸奶，并使用多变量测量方法（包括喜好评分、情感反应、感官特征和整体/概念感知）对样品进行了评价。本研究的主要发现是，目前可用的 PB 酸奶的整体可接受性较低，导致对 PB 酸奶的态度较差，消费意愿较低。研究中检查的产品具有几种感官属性，这些属性会降低消费者的喜好度，要么是因为它们出乎意料，要么是因为它们的强度水平太高。确定的主要感官问题包括感知的酸味（酸度）、块状外观和非白色颜色。相比之下，香草味和奶油/光滑的质地被确定为喜好的主要驱动因素。本研究中使用的多响应方法能够全面描述产品。得出的一个关键见解是，由于样品中存在意想不到的感官属性，导致负面情绪激活，是产品被拒绝的主要驱动因素。这可能是由于消费者的感官期望与他们品尝 PB 酸奶时的实际体验之间存在差异造成的，这些期望主要是基于他们对乳制品酸奶的经验形成的。总体而言，研究结果表明，目前可用的 PB 酸奶的感官特性是大多数消费者采用这些产品的一个重大障碍，解决这些感官缺陷对于这些产品获得主流市场接受至关重要。
