Effect of information on Chinese consumers’ acceptance of thermal and non-thermal treated apple juices: A study of young Chinese immigrants in New Zealand

Abstract

This study examined the effects of technology information on Chinese consumers’ acceptance of thermaland non-thermal treated apple juices. Apple juice was treated using thermal, high hydrostatic pressureprocessing and pulsed-electric field processing methods and compared to untreated apple juice. The fourjuices were evaluated by 118 Chinese consumers in three testing conditions: (a) blind (rating acceptanceof the apple juices without any information), (b) label (rating acceptance of the apple juice labels contain-ing different technology information without tasting the juices), and (c) informed (rating acceptance ofthe apple juices by tasting the juices and observing the labels containing different technology informa-tion). Results showed that technology information had the strongest positive influence on consumers’acceptance for untreated and high hydrostatic pressure processed apple juices. No effect of technologyinformation on the acceptance of pulsed-electric field treated apple juice was observed. Acceptance was lower for thermal treated apple juice, but its sensory characteristics were good enough to minimize the negative effect of technology information on acceptability. The findings of this study help manufacturers understand how technology information affect Chinese consumers’ acceptance of apple juices. When marketing non-thermal processed beverages, especially high hydrostatic pressure processed ones, to young and educated Chinese consumers, food manufacturers are recommended to focus on technology information as a selling point as this information strongly influences expectations and acceptance of the product. However, it should be noted that sensory characteristics are also important factors driving consumer acceptance and hence repeated consumption.