USE OF SLOPE ANALYSIS TO CHARACTERIZE CONSUMER PREFERENCE FOR VIRGIN OLIVE OIL

Sensory characteristics interact to drive overall liking of a food pro duct. Analytically, it is possible to estimate the importance of a sen sory characteristic by the linear slope (k), relating overall liking t o sensory liking characteristics. This approach was applied to extra v irgin olive oil, constructing slopes for appearance, odour and taste/f lavour. The results show that consumers responded differently. On aver age the relative importance of the sensory Liking characteristics as a driver of overall liking for extra virgin olive oil was taste/flavour > odour > appearance, even if there were consumers who paid equal att ention to all the sensory characteristics.