Department of Food Science, University of Arkansas, 2650 North Young Avenue, Fayetteville, AR, United States
Abstract
Consumers in marketplaces usually view a variety of sustainability-related labels displayed on chicken-meat
products. However, it is questionable whether consumers understand such
label claims and whether their label-understanding level can be
effective with respect to quality perception and sensory aspects of the
products. This study aimed to determine whether the impacts of
sustainability-related labels on quality perception and acceptability of
chicken breast meat differ by
consumers' label-understanding level. Among 110 participants who
attended a prior educational intervention regarding label claims, the 33
top-scorers of a survey examining knowledge about label claims
participated as a "High Label-Understanding (HLU)" group. Thirty-three
counterparts who experienced no educational intervention regarding label
claims participated as a "Control (CNTL)" group; both groups were
matched in terms of demographic profiles and purchase frequency of chicken-meat products. Participants in both groups evaluated the same four chicken-meat
samples labeled with four different label-claims, i.e., "USDA Organic",
"No Hormones Added", "USDA Process Verified", and a no-label condition.
For the HLU group, perceptions of chicken
meat with respect to overall quality, trust in quality, freshness,
overall liking, and juiciness differed significantly among the four
label-claim conditions. However, no significant differences in this
regard were observed in the CNTL group. The label claims-induced
intensities of tenderness, juiciness, and chicken flavor of chicken-meat
samples did not differ between the two groups. In conclusion, the
findings demonstrated that the effects of sustainability-related label
claims on quality perception and acceptability of chicken
meat became significantly more pronounced when consumers understood and
trusted the label claims. © 2015 Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Author keywords
Chicken meat; Label understanding; Quality perception; Sensory acceptability; Sustainability label
ISSN: 09503293
CODEN: FQPRESource Type: Journal
Original language: English
DOI: 10.1016/j.foodqual.2015.12.004Document Type: Article
Publisher: Elsevier Ltd