Effect of information and extended use on the acceptance of reduced-fat products

Volunteers who were not habitual consumers of reduced-fat products, were gi ven full-fat (FF) or reduced-fat (RF) pork sausages and milk chocolate snac k bars for consumption at home over a period of 12 weeks. Subjects were ass igned to 1 of 4 treatment groups: FF blind (n = 35) or RF blind (n = 34), b oth given the respective products with no nutritional information; RF infor med (n = 37), given RF products labelled "reduced-fat"; and Control (n = 37 ) who received no products. Subjects given products rated them for selected measures of acceptability at home each week. All subjects took part in bli nd sensory evaluation sessions every month, and completed questionnaires on eating behaviour and attitudes. In the initial blind tests, both the RF an d the FF Version of the two products received high scores for acceptability Overall results indicated no consistent shifts in the hedonic ratings of t he RF products compared with the FF products over the 12 week trial. Howeve r, subjects indicated a significant rise in "boredom" in their in-home rati ngs. In addition, the "reduced-fat" information had a small, negative effec t on acceptance ratings for the chocolate snack bars, but not for the sausa ges. These results indicate generally high and sustained consumer acceptanc e of these RF products in normal home use over extended periods. Further re search is needed to identify the most appropriate methods for promoting pur chase and use of highly acceptable RF or other nutritionally modified food products, and to investigate whether the same sustained consumer acceptance will apply to those RF products that are not as acceptable as the FF produ cts they replace. Additional product development work may be undertaken on RF products in order to increase their initial acceptance and therefore acc eptability in the long term. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights rese rved.