GreenUPorto - Research Center in Sustainable Agri-food Production

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Publications

Conceptualization of rice with low glycemic index: perspectives from the major european consumers

Publication . Cabral, Diva; Fonseca, Susana Caldas; Moura, Ana Pinto de; Oliveira, Jorge; Cunha, Luís Miguel

Rice and cereal consumption has become a concern for consumers due to usually high glycaemic indexes (GI), which is a critical issue for a balanced and healthy diet. Therefore, the development of new products with low GI is an important target of the industry, particularly in countries with high consumption. This study assesses consumers’ perceptions about “rice” and “rice with low GI” and evaluates the effect of consumers’ rice consumption profiles through the application of a free word association technique in a structured self-administered electronic questionnaire with 256 Portuguese consumers (the European market with the highest per capita consumption of rice by far). The frequency of rice consumption was evaluated, and the consumption profile was determined through a hierarchical cluster analysis, with 9% identified as daily consumers. The response words were categorized by the triangulation technique, and the association between the word categories and dimensions, sociodemographic characteristics, and consumption profile were determined. Respondents most frequently associated “rice” with rice dishes, its sensory attributes, and nutrition, highlighting the satisfaction of nutritional and hedonic needs. Consumers revealed positive expectations in relation to the functionality of “rice with low GI”. The consumers’ rice consumption profiles, sex, age, and educational levels influenced their perception towards “rice“ and “rice with low GI”. This study provides important insights for the industry to develop a consumer-oriented, low GI rice product.

2022Journal article

Open access

Consumers’ associations with herbal infusions and home preparation practices

Publication . Rocha, Célia; Moura, Ana Pinto de; Cunha, Luís Miguel

The consumption of infusions is affected by many factors, namely those associated with culture, health and sensory properties. The main goal of this research was to explore and understand consumers’ perceptions and behaviours regarding consumption and preparation of herbal infusions, applying a mixed methodology: the evaluation of consumers’ behaviours, assessed through direct self-reported measures, and indirect methods, such as free word association and auto-videography. A total of 489 Portuguese consumers replied to a web-based questionnaire. Based on their frequency of consumption and availability, 60 participants were selected for an observational study. Over 27% of the participants had at least a daily cup of herbal infusion, and over 74% had it at least every week. At home, participants reported the use of teapots (44.1%) or mugs/cups (52.0%) to prepare their infusions, and mostly chose bags (77.7%). Approximately 80% of the respondents removed the bags or loose leaves after steeping, mainly based on the infusion colour (53.1%). The freeword association results show that daily and weekly consumers establish a stronger connection with the sensory, emotional, health and wellbeing dimensions of the product, while less frequent consumers only consider the composition of the herbal infusion. From the observational study, it was noticeable that most of the consumers take less than one minute to steep the infusions, clearly below the four to ten minutes recommended for the most popular herbal infusions, like lemon verbena or peppermint. These results emphasize the need for communication strategies focused on the preparation process to give consumers tools to improve their sensory experience.

2020Journal article

Restricted access

Insects as food and feed in Portugal and Norway: cross-cultural comparison of determinants of acceptance

Publication . Ribeiro, José Carlos; Gonçalves, Ane Telles Sposito; Moura, Ana Pinto de; Cunha, Luís Miguel

Entomophagy – intentional consumption of insects – is practiced in several regions of the world, particularly in Asia, Africa and Latin America. In the Western world, edible insects have been growing in popularity as novel food and feed. The main objective of this cross-cultural study, performed in Portugal and Norway, was to evaluate the determinants of consumers’ acceptance of insects as food and feed. An online-based survey (n = 666, LimeSurvey -Portugal- and EyeQuestion -Norway-) composed of nine different sections, assessing acceptance of insects as food and feed, sociodemographic characteristics, attitudes towards edible insects and food choice motives was applied. Results showed that Norwegian consumers had a higher acceptance of insects as food or feed than Portuguese consumers did. It was also possible to divide consumers into four segments according to their acceptance level: Disgusted, Rejecters, Feed Acceptors and Acceptors. Considering the determinants of acceptance/rejection, disgust towards insects was the variable with the largest negative impact on either forms of entomophagy for both countries. On the other hand, consumers who seek new food experiences tend to have a higher acceptance of insects as food. Sociodemographic characteristics also influenced the acceptance of insects as food and feed, although differently for Norway and Portugal, while food choice motivations (convenience, health and ecological welfare) had minimal impact. These results highlight the importance of diminishing disgust reactions towards edible insects and to successfully marketing entomophagy to more neophilic consumers. This can be potentially obtained by improving the sensory appeal and experiences associated with edible insects.

2022Journal article

Restricted access

Dimensions for the valorisation of sea urchin (Paracentrotus lividus) gonads production through the eyes of experienced chefs

Publication . Baião, Luís F.; Moura, Ana Pinto de; Rocha, Célia; Valente, Luísa M. P.; Cunha, Luís Miguel

The main goal of this research was to explore and understand Chefs’ perceptions regarding sea urchin gonads sensorial features, production and use, with an emphasis on echinoculture. This study used a mixed methodology, where three groups of chefs were interviewed: Michelin star, from Ericeira and from Algarve, these being the two main regions of sea urchin consumption. During the interviews, Chefs exposed that there is some apprehension regarding the consumption of sea urchin mainly due to their appearance. Moreover, this product is yet to be explored in Portugal where it still sits in a niche market, emphasizing the need to advertise benefits and sensory pleasure that this product could provide. Furthermore, the existent preconception and suspicion about aquaculture products and their acceptance should be countered, since the future availability of these gourmet products and other seafood commodities with high-quality will be dependent on their production in sustainable culture systems. The Chefs also performed sensory evaluation through the application of Projective Mapping with Ultra Flash Profiling, showing that sea urchin gonad’s sensory properties were mainly influenced by sex. These results emphasize the need for communication and marketing strategies through locals, chefs and gastronomic events, focused on the promotion of consumers awareness about the exclusivity of this product and the importance of aquaculture for the future of the seafood market.

2021Journal article

Restricted access

Consumer-led adaptation of the EsSense Profile® for herbal infusions

Publication . Rocha, Célia; Moura, Ana Pinto de; Pereira, Diana; Lima, Rui Costa; Cunha, Luís Miguel

This work aimed to adapt the EsSense Profile® emotions list to the discrimination of herbal infusions, aiming to evaluate the effect of harvesting conditions on the emotional profile. A panel of 100 consumers evaluated eight organic infusions: lemon verbena, peppermint, lemon thyme, lemongrass, chamomile, lemon balm, globe amaranth and tutsan, using a check-all-that-apply (CATA) ballot with the original EsSense Profile®. A set of criteria was applied to get a discriminant list. First, the terms with low discriminant power and with a frequency mention below 35% were removed. Two focus groups were also performed to evaluate the applicability of the questionnaire. The content analysis of focus groups suggests the removal of the terms good and pleasant, recognized as sensory attributes. Six additional terms were removed, considered to be too similar to other existing emotion terms. Changes in the questionnaire, resulting in a list of 24 emotion terms for the evaluation of selected herbal infusions, were able to discriminate beyond overall liking. When comparing finer differences between plants harvested under different conditions, differences were identified for lemon verbena infusions, yielding the mechanical cut of plant tips as the one leading to a more appealing evoked emotions profile.

2021Journal article

Open access