ABSTRACT
Consumer's interest in sustainable livestock farming methods has grown in response to concerns for the environment and animal welfare. The purpose of this study is to examine the different influences of sustainability product information on sensory characteristics and purchase behaviors. To accomplish this aim, the study used salami, which is an Italian-style sausage processed by fermentation and drying. Three different types of information were provided: salami made from the pork of an antibiotic-free pig (SMAFP), of an animal welfare pig (SMAWP), and of a grazing pig (SMGP). This study was conducted as an off-line experiment with Korean participants (n=140). As a result, there were sensory differences according to the sustainability information. For the SMAFP, it had a significant difference in, sourness (p<0.05). With the SMAWP, there was a difference in gumminess (p<0.10), and the SMGP had significant differences in sourness (p<0.01), sweetness (p<0.01), andmoisture (p<0.05). Moreover, the purchase intention and willingness to pay were significantly higher when the sustainability information was given. Especially, among the three types of salamis, participants were willing to pay the most for the SMAWP. This is one of the first consumer studies to investigate sensory evaluation and purchase behavior for various types of sustainable livestock production. These results contribute by helping sustainable meat producers and marketers become aware of the kind of sustainable information to which consumers are sensitive.
ABSTRACT
An experimental attempt was made to bridge the gap between instrumental and sensory texture for the elderly diets in a corn starch gel system. Uniaxial compression was applied to measure the instrumental hardness of corn starch gels that was correlated with their sensory properties perceived by the elderly aged 60 and older. Instrumental and sensory hardness values of the starch gel samples were found to have good polynomial and linear correlations (R2 =.99) with the level of corn starch, respectively. A fairly linear relationship (R2 =.96) was observed between the instrumental and sensory hardness in terms of the logarithm of stress. In principal component analysis, two principal components that accounted for 86.71% of the total variability, separated the gel texture in terms of hardness/springiness and moistness, respectively. The categories of the starch gel samples were subdivided into five groups with different stress ranges. This classification suggested in this study appeared to provide useful information for modifying the texture of solid foods for the elderly diets. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: As the elderly population is increasing throughout the world, there are growing interests in developing food products for older adults with difficulties in chewing and swallowing in the food industry. In this study, the instrumental texture of solid foods in a starch gel system was correlated with the sensory properties perceived by the people aged 60 and older. Based on the principal component analysis, the corn starch gel samples with different hardness were classified into the five groups that were presented with the ranges of stress values. The results obtained in this study may thus provide valuable information on the standard criteria and guidelines customized for the elderly.
