Acceptance and Preference Testing

Consumer sensory evaluation is usually performed towards the end of the product development or reformulation cycle. At this time, the alternative product prototypes have usually been narrowed down to a manageable subset through the use of analytical sensory tests. Frequently, the sensory testing is followed by additional testing done through market research. The big difference between consumer sensory and marketing research testing is that the sensory test is generally conducted with coded, not branded, products, while market research is most frequently done with branded products (van Trijp and Schifferstein, 1995). Also, in consumer sensory analysis the investigator is interested in whether the consumer likes the product, prefers it over another product, or finds the product acceptable based on its sensory characteristics. The consumer sensory specialist often has no interest in purchase intent, effect of branding, and/or cost factors. Thus, a product will not necessarily be financially successful just because it had high hedonic scores (was well liked) or because it was preferred over another product. Success in the marketplace is also affected by price, market image, packaging, niche, etc. However, a product that does not score well in a consumer acceptance test will probably fail despite great marketing.

About 1930, Dr. Beebe-Center, psychologist at Harvard, wrote a book in which he reported the results of investigations of the pleasantness/unpleasantness of dilute solutions of sucrose and sodium chloride. He called his measurements hedonics. I liked the word, which is both historically accurate and now well installed, and used it in the first official report on the new scale.—David Peryam, “Reflections” (1989)

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1. Cornell University, USA Harry T. Lawless
2. University of Missouri, USA Hildegarde Heymann

1. Harry T. Lawless

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Lawless, H.T., Heymann, H. (1999). Acceptance and Preference Testing. In: Sensory Evaluation of Food. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-7843-7_13

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