Relationship between sensory attributes, hidden attributes and price in influencing consumer perception of organic foods

Summary

This report was presented at the UK Organic Research 2002 Conference. Consumer attitudes to foods are mainly influenced by quality attributes. Ethical factors are important in some cases, but they may be overstated. The relationships between consumers' awareness of organic food, price and perceived quality of food were investigated by tests involving series of consumer panels and sensory evaluation. Sensory responses were also matched to instrumental analysis data. Results indicated that overall there was no relation between panellist’s views about organic foods and their sensory perceptions. Eighty percent of the panellists felt that organic products were too expensive, but would buy them if they were cheaper. However the study showed that most of the people would not be likely to change their preference once they had made a product choice based upon sensory attributes. This has important implications, indicating that not only price, but also sensory quality of organic food must be considered in order to maintain repeated purchases by most consumers.