Sensory and Conceptual Aspects of Ingredients of Sustainable Sources-Finnish Consumers' Opinion

Abstract

Sustainable strategies that enable development of alternative sustainable novel ingredients for food are needed to ensure adequate resources for food in the future. Determining consumer attitudes and acceptance of novel ingredients is essential for wider usage of products including these ingredients. The purpose of the study was to reveal consumers' perspectives on novel, and partly traditional but marginally utilized, ingredients to be used in regular cooking and their sensory characteristics and nutritional and environmental aspects. Consumer attitudes were obtained with two online consumer surveys. Consumer surveys revealed the most interesting ingredients. Plant-based ingredients are preferred over raw materials of animal or insect origin and these are also perceived as more pleasant. Plants were also regarded as credible, ecological, natural, healthy and nutrient-rich. Finnish consumers are not ready to adopt insects into their diet. Neither synthetic meat nor three-dimensional printed food have potential without further knowledge or experience of consumers. Findings of this research give baseline information on consumer attitudes towards novel ingredients. Further research is needed to investigate the perceived pleasantness when the potential ingredients are tasted.