Intracultural study of consumer acceptability of Hibiscus sabdariffa L. drinks between European countries – Portugal, United Kingdom and France

The consumption of this drink is widespread in Africa and Asia, as far as we know little appears to have been published about European consumers' acceptance, when the drink is largely unknown in Europe. In order to achieve product acceptance followed by successful market introduction in Europe, it is of prime importance to gain insight into the factors determining consumers' food choice. Understanding how consumers perceive food products is critical for food companies. This information is essential for the development and marketing of new products, the reformulation of existing ones, the optimization of manufacturing processes and the establishment of specifications in quality control programs. One of the most novel methodologies that has been developed for gathering information about consumers' perception of the sensory characteristics of food products is the use of check-all-that-apply questions (CATA). CATA questions consist of a list of words or phrases from which respondents select all the words they consider appropriate to describe a product. This can result in a simpler and more valid approach to gathering information about consumers' perception that includes both their sensory and hedonic impression. The aim of the present work was to apply CATA questions to compare consumer perception in the development of Hibiscus sabdariffa L. drink products between European countries, namely Portugal, United Kingdom and France. Four traditional samples (n=4) brought from Senegal were tested, two directly as commercial products - viz. 1 commercial syrup and 1 commercial instantaneous juice and two produced according to traditional approaches from calices. Consumer's studies were performed in Oporto, Porto - Portugal, with 100 people from two Portuguese Catholic University Campuses, in Chatham, United Kingdom, with 120 people from the University of Greenwich and in Montpellier, France with 120 people from two canteens at the CIRAD Campus (La Recherche Agronomique pour le Développment) viz. - Baillarguet and Lavallete. Consumers were asked to score their overall liking and to answer a CATA questionnaire that included 28 sensory and hedonic terms. Significant differences were found in the frequencies in which CATA terms were used for describing the four samples in each European country under study, suggesting that this methodology was able to detect differences in consumer's perception of the drinks. CATA methodology allows establishing a European consumer profile of Hibiscus sabdariffa L. Drinks. (Texte intégral