Consumer's preferences and willingness to pay for immune enhanced dairy products in Canada.

This study examined consumer preferences for, willingness to pay for, and the most preferred mode of delivery for immune enhanced dairy products across Canada. Two sets of choice experiments were designed to evaluate preferences for functional foods and nutraceuticals as the modes of delivery for immune enhanced dairy products. Data (N = 1001) was collected through an online stated preference survey and analyzed using conditional logit model. Results revealed that there is a general consumer interest in immune enhanced dairy products, and consumers place a premium on them. Also, the presence of children below the age of fifteen in a household was a major factor that increased consumer receptivity towards the products. Further results revealed that individuals who usually consume functional foods are less likely to be interested in nutraceuticals, and vice versa, implying that the preferred mode of delivery depended on consumer preferences for either functional foods or nutraceuticals.

Chinese Adults' Willingness to Pay for Mandatory Nutrients Reporting on Nutrition Facts Table.

The Chinese food industry has opposed the mandatory inclusion of increased nutrients in the Nutrition Facts Table (NFT), thus impeding its improvement. This poses a challenge to the endeavors aiming to assist consumers in cultivating healthy dietary habits that incorporate reduced saturated fatty acids and added sugars while ensuring the adequate intake of essential micronutrients. This study conducted a choice experiment to investigate Chinese consumers' preference for updated labeling schemes among 630 adults that were randomly selected from Central, North, East, South, Northwest, Southwest, and Northeast China. It revealed that respondents were willing to pay the highest premium for the most mandatory nutrients (22.575% of the food price per unit). Respondents preferred the NFT with the most mandatory nutrients if they met the following population characteristics: female; non-overweight or obese; without a college degree; possessed an annual household disposable income between 50,000 and 99,999 CNY; from North China; lived in rural areas and often cooked for family; cared about food nutrition. Two combinations of NFT information received the highest preference: (1) the NFT detailing the most mandatory nutrients and their content values and nutrient reference values (NRV%); (2) the NFT containing the most nutrients and the nutrients in 100 g/mL or a serving. The first and second combinations attracted a premium of 14.884% and 31.833% of the food price per unit, respectively.

Development of a Holistic In Vitro Cell-Free Approach to Determine the Redox Bioactivity of Agricultural Products.

In recent years, there has been a strong consumer demand for food products that provide nutritional benefits to human health. Therefore, the assessment of the biological activity is considered as an important parameter for the promotion of high-quality food products. Herein, we introduce a novel methodology comprising a complete set of in vitro cell-free screening techniques for the evaluation of the bioactivity of various food products on the basis of their antioxidant capacity. These assays examine the free radical scavenging activities, the reducing properties, and the protective ability against oxidative damage to biomolecules. The adoption of the proposed battery of antioxidant assays is anticipated to contribute to the holistic characterization of the bioactivity of the food product under examination. Consumer motivations and expectations with respect to nutritious food products with bio-functional properties drive the global food market toward food certification. Therefore, the development and application of scientific methodologies that examine the quality characteristics of food products could increase consumers' trust and promote their beneficial properties for human health.

Comparison of Pivot Profile (PP), Rate-All-That-Apply (RATA), and Pivot-CATA for the sensory profiling of commercial Chinese tea products.

Rapid sensory profiling methods relying on consumers' perceptions are getting prevalent and broadly utilized by labs and companies to supersede conventional sensory profiling methodologies. Till now, various intensity-based sensory methods such as the newly proposed Pivot-Check-All-That-Apply (CATA) are limitedly developed and compared. In this investigation, Pivot Profile (PP), Rate-All-That-Apply (RATA), and Pivot-CATA methods were applied and validated using tea consumers and commercial Chinese tea products as samples. Data from three approaches were collected, analyzed by correspondence analysis (CA), and used to compare the three methods assessing the panel assessment process, sensory maps, confidence ellipses, and practical applications. Pivot-CATA exhibited a high similarity with RATA (RV = 0.873), and a lower similarity with PP (RV = 0.629). Of the three intensity-related methods, confidence ellipses on the RATA sensory map were the smallest and overlapped the least. However, Pivot-CATA consumed less time in collecting data and its questionnaire was more friendly to participants compared with PP and made the difference in intensity of samples more noticeable to the participants than RATA due to the existence of the pivot sample. Its experimental versatility also allows for a wide range of applications, indicating that the Pivot-CATA is an approach with great promise for routine use.

Evaluating front-of-pack voluntary well-being messaging for milk powders targeting Chinese older adults: A hedonic price model.

This study examines the price structure of milk powders targeting Chinese older adults, with special emphasis on the assessment of front-of-pack (FOP) voluntary well-being messaging (VWM), using a hedonic price model. Data of 456 sets of product prices and attributes were collected from official stores at online shops, TMALL.com and JD.com, in China. Prices were recorded 10 d before, during, and 10 d after a major online promotion event (November 11, 2021). A hedonic price model was employed to decompose explicit market prices into individual product attributes implicit prices, including essential attributes, such as milk source, brand origin, package material, and nutritional composition, and nonessential attributes conveyed by FOP VWM, regarding nutrition, ingredients, health, sensory qualities, and certification. Results showed that above and beyond essential attributes, nonessential attributes conveyed by FOP VWM were significantly associated with price. Specifically, significant price premiums were associated with dietary fiber claims (+12.7%), no added sugar (+19.0%) and potential health benefits (+19.3%), as nutrition-, ingredient-, and health-related FOP VWM respectively. However, nutrition claims regarding calcium and fat were negatively associated with price (-21.2% and -8.0%, respectively, when they were presented). Additionally, nutrition claims for protein and vitamin D, introducing farm environment, referring to imported ingredients, declaring specific ingredients added, describing sensory characterizes and providing certificates on FOP were not significantly associated with price in this market. These findings provide manufacturers with information to better differentiate their products by producing and advertising attributes most valued by consumers.

Providing appropriate information to consumers boosts the acceptability of genome-edited foods in Japan.

The Japanese Health Ministry recently granted permission for the market distribution of genome-edited (GE) foods, yet there remains a lack of full understanding among consumers regarding this technology. In this study, we conducted a survey to assess the acceptability of GE foods among Japanese consumers and examined the impact of providing information about GE foods on their acceptability. We conducted a web-based survey among 3,408 consumers aged 20-69 years, focusing on three aspects: (1) the commercial availability of GE foods, (2) the consumption of GE foods by others, and (3) your own consumption of GE foods. The survey findings revealed that participants were most accepting of the consumption of GE foods by others, followed by their acceptance of GE foods being commercially available. Notably, participants' acceptance of GE foods increased in all three aspects after they viewed an informative video. The video had a particularly strong impact on participants who fully or partially understood its content, compared to those who did not. Furthermore, regression analyses showed that participants' understanding of two key areas, namely "Why are GE foods important" and "What procedures are in place to ensure the safety of GE foods," played a crucial role in increasing acceptability. Overall, these results indicate that providing information about GE foods to Japanese consumers can effectively enhance their acceptance of such foods. The findings highlight the importance of understanding the benefits and safety measures associated with GE foods in influencing consumer attitudes.

A Randomized Controlled Study to Test Front-of-Pack (FOP) Nutrition Labels in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

One common strategy for governments to tackle the non-communicable disease (NCD) epidemic is front-of-package (FOP) nutrition labeling. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) is considering implementing a new FOP label that is based on either France's Nutri-Score (NS), which labels all foods (A = healthiest to E = least healthy) based on overall nutritional quality, or the Chilean warning label (WL) approach, which identifies foods to avoid based on select nutritional characteristics. Using a fully functional online grocery store, this study aimed to test these two promising FOP strategies by randomizing 656 KSA adults into one of the three versions of the store to complete a hypothetical grocery shop: no-label (control), NS, and WL. The NS was modified with a sugar percentage tag given that reducing sugar consumption is one of KSA's public health goals. We found that both modified NS labels and Chilean warning labels positively influenced food and beverage choices among KSA participants, but there were differential effects across the two labels. Relative to the control, NS improved the overall diet quality of the shopping baskets, measured by the weighted (by the number of servings) average NS point (ranging from 0, least healthy, to 55, healthiest), by 2.5 points [95% CI: 1.7, 3.4; p < 0.001], whereas results for WL were not statistically significant (0.6 points [95% CI: -0.2,1.5]). With respect to each nutritional attribute, we found that NS reduced sugar intake per serving, whereas WL was effective at decreasing energy and saturated fat intake per serving from food and beverages purchased. Our results suggest that the NS approach that identifies the healthiness of all foods using a holistic approach appears preferable if the purpose of the label is to improve overall diet quality as opposed to addressing select nutrients to avoid.

Vegetables with Enhanced Iron Bioavailability-German Consumers' Perceptions of a New Approach to Improve Dietary Iron Supply.

Iron deficiency is still widespread as a major health problem even in countries with adequate food supply. It mainly affects women but also vegans, vegetarians, and athletes and can lead to various clinical pictures. Biofortification of vitamin C-rich vegetables with iron may be one new approach to face this nutritional challenge. However, so far, little is known about the consumer acceptance of iron-biofortified vegetables, particularly in developed countries. To address this issue, a quantitative survey of 1000 consumers in Germany was conducted. The results showed that depending on the type of vegetable, between 54% and 79% of the respondents were interested in iron-biofortified vegetables. Regression analysis showed a relationship between product acceptance, gender, and area of residence. In addition, relationships were found between consumer preferences for enjoyment, sustainability, and naturalness. Compared to functional food and dietary supplements, 77% of respondents would prefer fresh iron-rich vegetables to improve their iron intake. For a market launch, those iron-rich vegetables appear especially promising, which can additionally be advertised with claims for being rich in vitamin C and cultivated in an environmentally friendly way. Consumers were willing to pay EUR 0.10 to EUR 0.20 more for the iron-biofortified vegetables.

Consumer attitudes and behaviors toward more sustainable diets: a scoping review.

There is an urgent need to move toward more sustainable diets. Although this will require radical and systemic changes across food systems, altering consumer ideologies and practices is essential to garner support for such actions. In this scoping review, the evidence on consumers' attitudes and behaviors toward more sustainable diets is synthesized and a range of factors, considerations, and proposed strategies are presented that can contribute to building the societal-level support for urgent and systems-level changes. The findings suggest that consumers, insofar as they are interested in sustainability and have the capacity to engage with the concept, primarily approach the concept of sustainable diet from a human health perspective. However, the interconnectedness of human health and well-being with environmental health is poorly understood and under-researched in the context of consumer behaviors and attitudes toward sustainable diets. This highlights the need for (1) sustained efforts from public health professionals to encourage a realignment of the term sustainable diet with its multidimensional meaning by championing an ecological public health approach in all efforts aimed at promoting more sustainable consumption, from awareness raising to policy development; (2) a broader research lens focused on the multidimensional concept of sustainability in the literature exploring consumer attitudes and behaviors; and (3) the development of multidisciplinary, clear, and evidence-based sustainable-eating messages, including holistic sustainable dietary guidance, to address knowledge gaps, minimize conflicting narratives, and build consumer agency. The findings contribute to understanding how support can be generated for the necessary structural and system-level changes required to support behavior change.

A new Coffee Brewing Control Chart relating sensory properties and consumer liking to brew strength, extraction yield, and brew ratio.

The classic Coffee Brewing Control Chart (BCC) was originally developed in the 1950s. It relates coffee quality to brew strength and extraction yield, and it is still widely used today by coffee industry professionals around the world to provide guidance on the brewing of coffee. Despite its popularity, recent experimental studies have revealed that sensory attributes and consumer preferences actually follow much more complicated trends than those indicated by the classic BCC. Here, we present a methodology to synthesize the results of these recent studies on drip-brewed coffee to generate new versions of the BCC: a new Sensory BCC that displays a broad array of statistically significant sensory attributes across typical total dissolved solids and percent extraction ranges, a new Consumer BCC that highlights the existence of two preference clusters with different likes and dislikes across those ranges, a new Sensory and Consumer BCC that combines both sensory descriptive and consumer preferences on the same chart, and a more streamlined BCC that omits consumer preferences and focuses on the overarching sensory descriptive trends. The new BCCs provide more accurate insight on how best to brew coffee to achieve desired sensory profiles. PRACTICAL APPLICATION: Through the manipulation of yield and extraction parameters, the new Sensory and Consumer Coffee Brewing Control Chart presented here can be used by brewers of drip coffee to design coffees with specific sensory profiles and match the preferences of different consumer types.

Characterizing the effect of sodium reduction and monosodium glutamate supplementation on white and multigrain breads.

Sodium overconsumption has become a serious health concern resulting in the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) publishing voluntary sodium reduction guidelines for a wide spectrum of packaged and processed foods. Reducing sodium through the removal of salt may decrease the palatability of foods, thus increasing the need for new approaches to prevent such palatability loss. The objective of this research was to characterize white and multigrain breads with either 43% or 60% reduction in sodium and with and without monosodium glutamate (MSG) using descriptive analysis methodology as well as to identify the drivers of liking for white and multigrain breads of varying sodium contents with and without MSG. Significant differences were identified in the attributes of salty taste and aftertaste, savory aftertaste, and chewy and firm textures in white bread and of salty taste and aftertaste, sweet taste, and density in multigrain bread. By regressing consumer test data of these breads onto their principal component analysis biplots, textural attributes and salty taste and aftertaste were identified as primary drivers of liking in white and multigrain breads. Flavor enhancers such as MSG show promise in mitigating palatability loss that occurs when the sodium content of bread is greatly reduced and thus provide a promising solution to produce breads with an improved nutritional profile. Future research on flavor enhancement in other food matrices would be valuable as well as in other bread and carbohydrate-based food categories. PRACTICAL APPLICATION: The findings of our study suggest that texture and a salty taste and aftertaste drive consumer liking of reduced-sodium white and multigrain breads and liking of breads could be improved with the addition of monosodium glutamate. Increasing the acceptance of reduced-sodium food products could help to improve the health of the American population by resulting in a reduced risk of hypertension and subsequently heart attacks and stroke.

Front-of-pack labels: "Directive" versus "informative" approaches.

Front-of-pack labels (FOPLs) aim at communicating to consumers the health value of food items in support of public health policies. Two main types can be discerned: directive and semidirective FOPLs using color schemes (e.g., Nutri-Score) and informative FOPLs (e.g., Nutrinform Battery). Directive approaches tend to show a "wear-out effect" and, additionally, they tend to have various underlying conceptual problems. Usually, their nutritional scores are calculated using changing, arbitrary algorithms and involve a reductionist set of parameters of debatable validity. Thus, they overstate the effects of selected nutritional factors, such as saturated fat and energy, while overlooking the food matrix and the more holistic aspects of nourishment. Moreover, they do not reflect the portion that is consumed, ignore the preparation steps at home, and fail to serve as a useful basis for composing a healthy diet. Also, so long as the nutritional formulations match the algorithmic standards, they tend to allow ultra-processed products. Thus, this might confuse and mislead consumers. Overconfidence in green-colored labels could even result in unbalanced dietary choices, whereas avoidance of red products may eliminate certain foods from the diet that are rich in essential nutrients (e.g., cheese), leading to opposite results than aimed for. The latter is particularly relevant to vulnerable populations, such as the young, pregnant women, and older adults, or for individuals with specific needs. Taken together, directive FOPLs such as Nutri-Score contradict the declared intent of the European Commission to empower consumers to undertake healthy and balanced diets based on easily accessible and robust information. Although informative systems usually also keep the focus on a few selected nutritional parameters, they have are less paternalizing and obviate the need to classify foods as healthy or unhealthy. They also focus attention on the individual portions that are consumed (even if the definition of portion size remains contentious). Given the importance of dietary patterns, rather than individual foods or nutrients, directiveFOPLs of the Nutri-Score type represent a regretful case of nutritionism. Finally, attempts to associate the adoption of a FOPL with an improvement in the health status are few and mainly applied in virtual settings; none of which are longitudinal, nor have they been able to identify a causal link.

Patient-facing cancer mobile apps that enable patient reported outcome data to be collected: A systematic review of content, functionality, quality, and ability to integrate with electronic health records.

PURPOSE: Enabling cancer patients to self-manage symptoms through mobile applications can result in more informed, autonomous patients who are partners in their care, consequently reducing the burden on health services. Electronic patient reported outcomes completed before a clinical review can increase the frequency and quality of holistic assessments, while integration into electronic health records can maximise clinical utility. The ability of apps to integrate with electronic health records is key to providing a real-time interface between patient reports and healthcare response. This review identifies patient-facing cancer apps which can record patient reported outcomes, and explores their purpose, functionality, quality, and ability to integrate with electronic health records. METHODS: A systematic app review and content synthesis was conducted on patient-facing cancer apps available in the United Kingdom. Where applicable, the review aligned with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and meta-Analysis. Two validated scales assessed functionality and quality: The IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics functionality score and the Mobile App Rating Scale. Flesch-Kincaid metrics explored readability. RESULTS: Apple App and Google Play stores identified 405 apps, of which 12 met the eligibility criteria. All were free to download, 1 (8%) had in-app purchases/subscriptions. Nine (75%) were affiliated with a professional health body/charity. Six (50%) analysed inputted data and provided medical advice based on answers. The average Flesch Reading Ease score was 42.7 out of 100. The apps had an average of 7.3 functions each and a mean MARS score of 4/5. None integrated with electronic health records. CONCLUSION: While many cancer apps exist, few enable patient reported outcomes to be recorded and shared with clinicians in real-time. Further research is warranted to explore the feasibility of integrating with electronic health records, as this function can improve patient experience and outcomes, and increase efficiency of hospital resources through more proactive care.

Frying dough with yellow mealworm oil: Aroma profile and consumer perception at a central location test and at home.

Insect oil is a valuable fraction that is obtained from insect processing. The aim of this study is to evaluate the impact of yellow mealworm oil (YMW) oil (crude, deodorized, and blended with vegetable oil) on the sensory evaluation and aroma profile of fried dough. The sensory evaluation was performed in a sensory lab (central location test, CLT) and at home in order to examine how the evaluation environment or context impacts consumer perceptions. The strongest liking and preference were found for the donuts that were fried in 100% deodorized YMW oil and in YMW oil blended with vegetable oil. The evaluation environment did not affect overall liking scores but had an impact on sensory profiling, with more discriminating sensory terms observed for the test that was conducted at the sensory lab than for the test that was conducted at home. A distinctive profile of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) was found for every fried dough. The discrimination between VOCs and other frying oils that were observed is well in line with the sensory descriptors and the consumer test results. Acetic acid, acetic acid ethenyl ester, and tetrahydro-6-propyl-2H-Pyran-2-one were present in the doughs that were fried in crude YMW oil and in its blend with vegetable oil. They were absent from deodorized YMW oil and from its blend with vegetable oil. This study shows that, as far as fried donuts are concerned, deodorized YMW oil is an alternative to a vegetable oil-the two lead to similar sensorial experiences and preferences. PRACTICAL APPLICATION: Yellow mealworm oil (YMW) oil is a co-product of insect protein that can be valorized in the food industry. In the present study, it is demonstrated that the deodorization of YMW oil produces positive sensorial experiences and increases consumer acceptance of insect-based food. Furthermore, findings indicate that consumer testing at home yields similar acceptance and preference ratings suggesting that this type of testing may be an alternative means of collecting reliable consumer data.

Serviço-escola de psicologia da Unifesp: campos de estágio, ações e especificidades / UNIFESP's psychology service-school: internship field, actions, and specificities / Serviço-escola de psicologia de la Unifesp: campos de prácticas profesionales, acciones y especificidades

O Serviço-Escola de Psicologia (SEP) da Unifesp foi constituído com o intuito de transcender o tradicional funcionamento das clínicas-escola, superando a atomização da Psicologia em áreas e oferecendo serviços integrados à rede. Isso possibilita uma formação interdisciplinar, pluralista, generalista, não tecnicista, crítica, permitindo a compreensão e atuação do psicólogo em diversos contextos socioculturais. O objetivo do artigo é descrever, avaliar e problematizar as ações do SEP da Unifesp, em relação à oferta de campos de estágio e ações desenvolvidas neles. É um estudo transversal, baseado em metodologia predominantemente quantitativa e descritiva. O levantamento de dados foi realizado por meio de dois questionários online respondidos por todos os supervisores. Os dados quantitativos foram submetidos à análise estatística descritiva. Os resultados evidenciaram maior incidência das ações no município de Santos e, em menor grau, em outros municípios da Baixada Santista e na cidade de São Paulo. A maioria das atividades de estágios não se limita ao espaço físico de atendimento clínico do Serviço-Escola, ocorrendo junto às instituições públicas ou às instituições ligadas ao terceiro setor na região, relacionadas, direta ou indiretamente, com a promoção de políticas públicas. A pluralidade de recursos utilizados (grupos, atendimento individual, acompanhamento terapêutico, oficinas, matriciamento, entre outros) revela uma ampliação do repertório de competências e habilidades. A variedade de oferta de projetos e campos de estágio, públicos-alvo atendidos, assim como a diversidade e flexibilidade de ações e estratégias desenvolvidas, apontam um movimento de congruência em relação às diretrizes curriculares nacionais e ao inovador Projeto Pedagógico do curso.(AU)

UNIFESP's Psychology Service-School (SEP) was founded with the objective of going beyond the traditional functioning of school-clinics, overcoming the atomization of Psychology in areas and offering services integrated to the network. This enables an interdisciplinary, pluralist, generalist, non-technicist, and critical training, allowing psychologists' understanding and action in different sociocultural contexts. This article aims to describe, evaluate, and discuss the actions of UNIFESP's SEP regarding the offer of internship fields and the actions developed in those fields. It is a cross-sectional study, based on a predominantly descriptive and quantitative methodology. The data was surveyed with two online questionnaires answered by all supervisors. Quantitative data were submitted to descriptive statistical analysis. The results showed a higher incidence of actions in the municipality of Santos and, to a lesser extent, in other municipalities of the Baixada Santista and in the city of São Paulo. Most internship activities are not limited to the physical space of the service-school's clinical care and take place alongside public institutions or institutions linked to the third sector in the area, directly or indirectly related to the promotion of public policies. The plurality of resources (groups, personal care, therapeutic monitoring, workshops, matrix support, among others) reveals an expansion of competences and skills repertoire. The variety of projects and internship fields offers, of target audiences served, as well as the diversity and flexibility of the developed actions and strategies point to a congruence movement relating to national curricular guidelines and to the innovative pedagogical project of the course.(AU)

El Serviço-Escola de Psicologia (SEP) de la Unifesp (Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Brasil) buscó trascender el funcionamiento tradicional de las clínicas universitarias, superar la atomización de la Psicología en áreas y ofrecer servicios integrados a la red. Esto permite una formación interdisciplinar, pluralista, generalista, sin tecnicismos, crítica, lo que posibilita a los/las psicólogos/as comprender y actuar en diferentes contextos socioculturales. Este artículo pretendió describir, evaluar y problematizar las acciones del SEP Unifesp respecto a la oferta de campos de prácticas profesionales y acciones desarrolladas. Es un estudio transversal, con metodología predominantemente cuantitativa y descriptiva. Los datos se recolectaron de dos cuestionarios en línea respondidos por los/las supervisores/as. Se les aplicaron un análisis estadístico descriptivo. Hubo más acciones en la ciudad de Santos (Brasil) que en otros municipios de la región metropolitana de la Baixada Santista y en la ciudad de São Paulo. La mayoría de las prácticas profesionales no se limita a la atención clínica del SEP, ocurriendo en instituciones públicas o vinculadas al tercer sector en la región, directa o indirectamente, relacionadas con la promoción de políticas públicas. La pluralidad de recursos (grupos, atención individual, acompañamiento terapéutico, talleres, soporte matricial, entre otros) revela un amplio repertorio de competencias y habilidades. La variada oferta de proyectos y campos para prácticas profesionales, los públicos destinatarios atendidos, así como la diversidad y flexibilidad de acciones y estrategias desarrolladas apuntan a una congruencia respecto a los lineamientos curriculares nacionales y al innovador proyecto pedagógico del curso.(AU)

Impact of beverage temperature on consumer preferences for black coffee.

We recently performed a systematic investigation of consumer preferences for black coffee versus key brewing parameters, including total dissolved solids, extraction yield, and brewing temperature (Cotter et al. in J Food Sci 86(1):194-205, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1111/1750-3841.15561 ). An experimental goal in that work was for participants to taste the coffee at a beverage temperature of 65 °C, but the large sample size of more than 3000 individual tastings, combined with natural variations in the brewing and cooling processes, meant that coffees were assessed over a normally distributed range of temperatures between 56 and 71 °C. Here we use those data to provide a more detailed analysis of the impact of beverage temperature on consumer acceptance of the coffee, with a key objective of identifying beverage temperatures at which no consumers assess the coffee either as too hot or too cold. Using a 5-point just-about-right (JAR) scale, we find that a majority of consumers (> 50%) assessed the temperature as JAR at all temperatures tested up to 70 °C. A substantial fraction of consumers, approximately 6-12%, assessed the coffee as too cold over the range 56-68 °C. Only above 70 °C did a majority of consumers assess the coffee as too hot and none assessed it as too cold, albeit with 40% still assessing it as JAR. Complementary analyses indicate that beverage temperature over this range had little impact on assessments of the adequacy of flavor intensity, acidity, and mouthfeel, but did correlate slightly with overall liking and purchase intent. Overall, the results suggest that temperatures over the range of 58-66 °C maximize consumer acceptance, and that 68-70 °C is the minimum temperature range at which no consumers will assess black coffee as too cold.

Identifying sensory drivers of liking for plant-based milk coffees: Implications for product development and application.

The global plant-based product market is growing rapidly, and plant-based milks show promising potential in the coffee beverage sector. This study aimed to identify sensory drivers of liking of plant-based milk coffees for guiding the development of plant-based products with competitive advantages over dairy milk coffees. Twelve coffee samples were prepared with plant-based (oat, soy, almond, and coconut) and dairy (cow) milk. Quantitative descriptive analysis was used to generate sensory attribute terms for the 12 samples. Check-all-that-apply (CATA) questions were given to consumers to evaluate the sensory profiles and consumer acceptance of the 12 samples. Correspondence analysis and cluster analysis of the CATA results from 80 consumers showed that the oat and soy milk coffee samples were closer to what the consumers perceived as "typical" milk products, while the coconut and almond milk coffee samples were closer to the "flavored" milk products. Partial least squares regression results revealed that the attributes smooth, milky, and thick were important drivers of liking for the milk coffee samples. On the contrary, rancid oil, greasy, astringent, and rice bran were the major sensory attributes lowering the panelists' acceptance of the milk coffee samples. The majority of consumers (53.5%) were "dairy milk lovers," who specifically liked the dairy milk coffee sample and had low acceptance for the plant-based milk coffee samples. There was also a group of consumers (46.2%) classified as "plant-based milk coffee lovers." They enjoyed coffees prepared with a wide range of milks (both dairy and nondairy milks) and represent high-potential consumers for plant-based milk coffee products. PRACTICAL APPLICATION: The positive and negative drivers of liking for plant-based milk coffee samples were identified. A competitive landscape analysis method for assessing the acceptability and sensory attributes of 12 milk coffee samples (11 commercial plant-based milks and 1 dairy milk product) in the current Asian market was established. The sensory terms developed in this study can also be applied to evaluate sensory profiles of other plant-based and dairy milk coffee samples.

The Negative Effects of Physical Activity Calorie Equivalent Labels on Consumers' Food Brand Evaluation.

(1) Background: To prevent excessive caloric intake, a food labeling strategy is widely adopted by governments. Physical activity calorie equivalent (PACE) labels prove to be effective in reducing calorie intake. However, previous literature has mainly discussed the effect of PACE labels on consumers' purchase intention for high-calorie foods but has not analyzed whether consumers evaluate food brands negatively after inhibiting the consumers' purchase intention for high-calorie foods. Therefore, the aims of this study are to explore the negative effects of PACE labels on consumers' food brand evaluation and the underlying psychological mechanism. (2) Methods: This study manipulated the two calorie-information labeling (standard calorie label and PACE labels) in two studies, involving potato chips and chocolate products. It also adopted a prevention focus and anticipated enjoyment of food consumption variables to detect the moderation effects between consumers' promotion focus and PACE labels. (3) Results: Results show that compared with calorie labels, PACE labels have a more negative influence on consumers' food brand evaluation. Furthermore, consumers stimulated by PACE labels develop a stronger prevention focus, thereby reducing their anticipated enjoyment of food brands, and ultimately leading to lower brand evaluations. In addition, when consumers have a promotion focus before choosing food, PACE labels cannot reduce their anticipated enjoyment and food brand evaluation for food brands. (4) Conclusions: While focusing on the negative effect of PACE labels on consumers' purchase intention for high-calorie foods, it should also be noted that PACE labels have a negative effect on food brand evaluation. Therefore, food enterprises should try their best to activate consumers' promotion focus through various environmental cues, so as to avoid a double negative effect on consumers' food purchases and brand evaluations.

Consumers' Willingness to Pay for Rice from Remediated Soil: Potential from the Public in Sustainable Soil Pollution Treatment.

Remediation of polluted soil on arable land is mostly funded by governments, with the understanding that the public's willingness to pay for food produced on remediated soil can help establish a soil remediation model with more stakeholders. In contrast to previous studies that have focused on soil-remediation technologies' diffusion, this study employs choice experiments to evaluate market preferences for crops grown from lands of varying quality that are reflected in consumers' willingness to pay (WTP). The results show that consumers are willing to pay a small premium for rice labeled with remediated-soil claims, but the WTP for remediated-soil claim is less than that of an uncontaminated-soil claim. Consumers' WTP for remediated-soil claim increases by 29.03% when combining with a well-known brand, and it increases by 71.17% when information is provided about the efficacy of cadmium and heavy-metal-pollution remediation; however, combining with the region-of-origin label does not increase WTP. We also find that, in early stages of promotion, online stores may reach target consumers more easily. Based on these results, we propose four implications for policymakers.

The role of information in consumer preferences for sustainable certified palm oil products in Germany.

Food products are often subject to information asymmetries, which are commonly supposed to be reduced by labels and certifications. However, as the number of labels increases, consumers tend to get confused, bored or impatient and stop using them to make product choices. This study uses data from a discrete choice experiment, conducted in Germany, to analyze consumers' preferences and willingness-to-pay (WTP) for sustainability indicators on products that contain palm oil as an ingredient. Since information is crucial to the assessment and awareness of, or attendance to, labels on consumer products, this study assesses the effect of factual information on preferences as well as attribute-processing strategies. We use a hybrid latent variable model that allows us to jointly examine the response to the stated choice component and the responses to attribute processing questions, thus capturing attribute non-attendance (ANA) to specific labels while controlling for heterogenous preferences. Our results reveal that the attribute 'organic' receives the highest monetary valuation in the overall sample as well as in the information intervention, and the no-information intervention groups. The results also show that providing additional information tends to change consumers' non-attendance patterns as well as WTP values. In particular, the information intervention tends to increase consumers' WTP and decreases their ANA for sustainability-indicating attributes. The findings suggest that the attribute 'organic' has the potential to be ranked highest across the entire latent variable structure, making it the most promising attribute for promoting sustainable palm oil use across consumer groups.