Sensory perception, consumer acceptance and determinants of healthy and sustainable eating in different population targets

The increasing world population is currently threatening food security, intensifying pressures on the finite planetary resources. One way to tackle this challenge is to seek for new and healthy food sources as one solution to overcome the ensuing food shortages taking in consideration consumer’s needs and expectations. In this context, a transition from animal-based to plant-based proteins would be beneficial for biodiversity, land use, water use, climate, human health and animal welfare. Several new food products (e.g. substitutes of food of animal origin) and ingredients (e.g. micro and macroalgae) are entering the market to foster the shift towards plant-based diets but their appearance, smell, taste and texture often do not meet consumer expectations and acceptance. In this context, sensory science plays a crucial role contributing to food products optimization as well as to the exploration of motivations and barriers to healthy and environmentally sustainable eating also considering the needs of vulnerable population targets (e.g. children and elderly people).

The research will involve different activities as reported below.

• Assessment of the sensory properties and consumer acceptance of new sustainable and healthy products (e.g. new alternatives to food of animal origin such as meat-substitutes and/or plant-based milk and dairy products as well as new ingredients such as micro and macroalgae) in different population targets (e.g. children, elderly) in connection with spoke 2, 3.
• Exploring consumer’s motives and barriers to the consumption of the above mentioned products by exploring individual characteristics (socio-demographics, perceptive and psychological factors) and attitudes towards food (e.g. eating behavior, personality traits).
• Identification of consumer’s drivers of liking and rejection of the above mentioned products by performing a statistical model that can predict the factors that may positively or negatively contribute to consumer’s acceptance of new sustainable food products.

• Better understanding of the sensory properties and drivers of consumer’s acceptance of healthy and sustainable food in order to foster consumption considering the needs of vulnerable population targets
• Contribute to the creation of new market prospects for food companies by delivering innovative products tailored to different consumer targets (including vulnerable groups) with characteristics that may positively affect health and environment optimizing sensory properties.