06/01/2017: Consumers’ perception of new fish products from new aquaculture species

by L. Guerrero1, O. Lazo1, R. Bou1, R. Robles2 A. Claret1 1IRTA-Food Technology Centre, Finca Camps i Armet, 17121 Monells (Girona) Spain and 2CTAQUA, Muelle Comercial S/N, 11500 El Puerto de Santa María (Cádiz) Spain

Consumers are the last step in the production chain and those who ultimately decide on the success or failure of a new product launched into the market

It is therefore essential to understand the factors affecting consumer behaviour and the key aspects driving decision-making and product purchasing.
  

Figure 1: Example of two of the selected products for
tasting: (A) salad with fish (meagre) and (B) fresh
fish steak for grilling in the pan (greater amberjack)

Sensory properties have been identified as one of the main determinants of food selection and consumption.

However, sensory perception per se might be strongly affected by other aspects such as individual characteristics (e.g. attitudes or expectations) and environmental factors (context, origin, brand name, price, etc.).

In the same vein, expected quality seems to be one of the most important factors in consumers' intention to purchase food. It is evident that quality cues are used to infer expected fish quality attributes at the point of sale.

These cues can be grouped into intrinsic (colour, odour, eyes shape, brightness) and extrinsic (price, origin, quality labels), and their role in developing expectations depends on the type of fish or fish products and on the context (circumstances in which the product and individuals will interact) in which the product will be used or consumed.

In addition, it is worth making a clear distinction between experiential quality attributes such as convenience, freshness or sensory characteristics that will be experienced and ascertained at the time of consumption, and credence quality attributes, such as healthiness or naturalness, that cannot be experienced directly even after frequent consumption.

Both quality attribute types can generate individual expectations, but only quality attributes experienced directly can be assessed, confirmed or disconfirmed.


Read the full article HERE.

The Aquaculturists
This blog is maintained by The Aquaculturists staff and is supported by the
magazine International Aquafeed which is published by Perendale Publishers Ltd

For additional daily news from aquaculture around the world: aquaculture-news