CONSUMER ATTITUDES AND OLIVE OIL ACCEPTANCE - THE POTENTIAL CONSUMER

This paper outlines the results of consumer research to investigate co nsumer attitudes towards olive oil, and to evaluate selected experimen tal samples for acceptability. Consumer focus group discussions were u sed to investigate consumer attitudes to and awareness of olive oil, i n relation to other culinary oils. A wide range of information was obt ained, indicating the increasing importance of olive oil in the UK. Pr oduct use was examined to investigate the different types of olive oil s consumers use, and the importance of different attributes for purcha se. Price, quality and colour were the most important considerations f or purchasing an olive oil, whilst package design, package material an d brand were the least important. Eight samples of virgin olive oil we re evaluated for acceptability of appearance, odour, flavour and mouth feel. These data indicated clear differences in acceptability between the samples, particularly on flavour, mouthfeel and overall acceptabil ity. These data were then linked to sensory information to determine t he characteristics of oil associated with liking for the product.