Commercial fermented milk: study with consumers

Abstract

Understanding how consumers perceive food products is crucial. Besides knowing how much they like a product, food companies need information about the sensorial characteristics that people expect to find in a product. As consumers are not always able to explain the reason they like a product, the Check All That Apply (CATA) test can be a simple alternative to obtain information about their perception of a product. This work had the purpose of applying the CATA and the Acceptance tests, simultaneously, intending to understand the characteristics of a given product that are more important for consumers. A panel of 60 consumers evaluated five brands of fermented milk. The participants answered the CATA test that presented 15 attributes describing the sensorial characteristics of the fermented milk. For the acceptance test, the hedonic scale of nine points was used. The CATA data were statistically analyzed by the Cochran’s Q test and the Correspondence Analysis. All the attributes analyzed showed significant differences (p<0.05) between them. The sample 657 was the most accepted by consumers. This sample presented a sweet taste, peculiar flavor of fermented milk and whitish color. The attributes that did not present any impact on the acceptance were flavor and vanilla aroma, caramel coloring, coagulated appearance, and bitter and acid taste. The results of this work can be applied in dairy industries to develop new formulations to meet consumers’ expectations.