Final Report Summary - NEFOMET (Innovative Methodologies for New Food Product Development: combining Sensory Science and Experimental Economics)
• An executive summary.
The project supported the training activity of Dr. Daniele Asioli (i.e. the fellow) during his period spent at Nofima AS (Norway) and stay away period at University of Arkansas (US). During the project – started in March 2014 and ended up in December 2017 – the fellow has been involved in different activities and ongoing projects (ConsumerCheck, RapidCheck, Ecoberries and CulturedMeat) both in Norway and US, and also performed its own project as principal investigator. The fellow successfully developed his own project by performing an experiment that combined intrinsic and extrinsic food attributes (i.e. respectively related to sensory analysis and experimental economics) in a formal innovative methodology with the aim of better understanding of consumer acceptance of an innovative food product. Specifically, we included sensory panel analysis, followed by a consumer test where the protocol combined the sensory and non-sensory products description with measure of consumer acceptance and consumers’ willingness to pay applied to a innovative food product (i.e. healthy savoury snack bar). In addition, this contributed to improved scientific knowledge about the application of experimental economics techniques as well as experimental design in sensory science in the food sector. He attended several training courses, performed data analysis, designed research projects, organized and gave seminars and workshops, published papers, extended the collaborations both at academic and industry levels, at national and international levels as well as participated to the life of the institutes where he stayed. All the scientific papers published and collaborations developed were strongly linked to the topic of the MSCA fellowship which was the combination of innovative consumer methodology and empirical studies both in sensory science and experimental economics. All activities have served the fellow to develop experimental protocols and new methodology that combine sensory and experimental economics.
Note: the fellow did not receive any remuneration in addition to the MSCA fellowship.
• A summary description of project context and objectives.
The project has been carried out by the fellow at Nofima AS with the close collaboration of Norwegian University of Life Science (NBMU) in Norway. At Nofima AS the fellow took a seat at Consumer and Sensory Department and collaborated with the colleagues that work on sensory, statistics and consumer science. The department has a sensory lab, kitchen, and a focus group room that are used to test food products with consumers and panellists. At NMBU, the fellow has collaborated with the School of Economics & Business. The collaboration between Nofima and NMBU was central for the main experiment of the project because it combines both the areas of research (i.e. sensory for Nofima AS and economics for NMBU) central in the project, food and economic sciences. Specifically, the main experiment that combined intrinsic and extrinsic food attributes (i.e. sensory and economics science) involved in the research design, experiment and data analysis scientists from both institutes). In addition, the fellow has collaborated with some other institutions, in order to enrich the knowledge and skills both in sensory and economics. The fellow has collaborated with Orkla Foods Norge during 2014 – 2015 in an internship and was also involved in a project where both Nofima and Orkla Foods Norge were involved which helped to provide the training for the fellow for the more practical part (i.e. new food product development) which is one of the key fundamental of the project. The fellow has also collaborated since 2015 with Macefruit, an Italian food industry specialized in fruit and vegetable processing. This collaboration has been particularly relevant because it helped the fellow to perform the main experiment of his fellowship, because it allowed to combine both sensory and economics for a new food product.
In addition, the fellow has collaborated during his stay-away with the Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness at University of Arkansas (United States) since 2017 where he has been visiting scholar for 6 months from January to June 2017. During that period the fellow has carried out several activities. During this period, the fellow has attended three Graduate courses at Walton Business School such as, Econometrics II, Experimental Economics and Behavioural Economics. In addition, the fellow has attended the seminar series at the Walton Business School organized every week. Moreover, the fellow has developed an experiment that has continued later and concluded in October 2017 with the data collection. This collaboration has been particularly useful in the context of the MSCA fellowship, because the fellow has attended the above mentioned specialized courses in experimental economics which trained him for his main experiment which was one of the key pillars of the MSCA fellowship.
During the fellowship the fellow has collaborated with ongoing activities at Nofima AS. The fellow has been involved in several projects. First, the fellow has been involved in the follow-up activities of the ConsumerCheck project where he carried out the data analysis of some consumers’ databases and together with some colleagues contributed to work on several research papers which are listed below. Second, the fellow has been involved in the RapidCheck project where he attended several meetings and training courses which also involved industries partners which the fellow has been trained in learning and then apply in his main experiment new sensory methodology (i.e. CATA). The fellow has also been involved in the RapidCheck project participating in two research projects. The first is an experiment involving consumers to taste different types of bread, while the second involved a large consumer test involving healthy snack bars. The latter project was the main experiment conducted by the fellow where he combined intrinsic and extrinsic attribute These collaborations within projects at Nofima AS supported the training of the fellowship since he learned about new sensory methodologies and data analysis which was essential for designing the main experiment.
The fellow has achieved a number of significant results during the entire duration of the project in terms of publications. He has published 13 scientific papers in relevant and highly recognized international scientific journals. These papers have been written in closed collaboration with a variety of scientists from different countries and research institutes, such as: Nofima AS and Norwegian University of Life Science (Norway), University of Bologna, University Parthenope and University of Federico II and CIAS (Italy), University of Guelph (Canada), University of Arkansas and Michigan State University (US), University of Gottingen (Germany) and Aarhus University (Denmark). These papers have been published in a great varieties of topics both on methodological issues (conjoint analysis, comparing methods, projective mapping, choice experiments, etc.) and empirical issues (seafood, organic products, iced coffee, bread, fruits, local foods, etc.).
• A description of the main S&T results/foregrounds.
▪ Scientific papers: the fellow has published 13 scientific papers in relevant and high recognized international scientific journals.
1. Varela, P., Berget, I., Hersleth. M., Carlehøg, M., Asioli, D., Næs, T. (2017). “Projective mapping based on choice or preference: An affective approach to projective mapping”. Food Research International, 100(Part 2): 241-251.
2. Asioli, D., Aschemann-Witzel, J., Caputo, V., Vecchio, R. Annunziata, A., Næs, T., Varela, P., (2017). “Making sense of the ''clean label'' trends: a review of consumer food choice behavior and discussion of industry implications”. Food Research International, 99(1):58-71.
3. Asioli, D., Varela, P., Almli, V. L., Hersleth, M., Olsen N.V. Næs, T., (2017). “A discussion of recent methodologies for combining extrinsic and sensory properties in consumer studies”. Food Quality and Preference, 56(B):266-273.
4. Asioli, D., Næs, T., Øvrum, A. Almli, V. L. (2016). “Comparison of rating-based and choice-based conjoint analysis models. A case study based on preferences for iced coffee in Norway”. Food Quality and Preference, 48, Part A: 174-184.
5. Asioli, D., Almli, V. L., Næs, T., (2016). “Comparison of two different strategies for investigating individual differences among consumers in choice experiments. A case study based on preferences for iced coffee in Norway”. Food Quality and Preference, 54:79-89.
6. Asioli, D., Alfnes, F. (2016). “The Norwegian food market: main issues and trends”. British Food Journal, 118(10):1-2.
7. Hemmerling, S., Asioli, D., Spiller, A., (2016). “Core Organic Taste: preferences for naturalness-related sensory attributes of organic food among European consumers”. Journal of Food Products Marketing, 22(7):824-850.
8. Boecker, A., Asioli, D., (2016). “Could there be unintended effects of government support for seafood traceability implementation on business planning? Results of a survey among Italian fishery businesses”. Journal of Fisheries Science, 10(3):66-76.
9. Asioli, D. Canavari, M. Malaguti, L., Mignani, C. (2016). “Fruit Branding: Exploring factors affecting adoption of the new pear variety Angelys® in Italian large retail”. International Journal of Fruits Science, 16(3): 284-300.
10. Bazzani, C., Asioli, D. Canavari, M., Gozzoli, E. (2016). “Consumer perceptions and attitudes towards farmers' markets: the case of a Slow Food “Earth Market”®. Economia Agroalimentare, 3:283-302.
11. Asioli, D., Boecker, A., Canavari, M.(2014). “On the linkages between traceability levels and expected and actual traceability costs and benefits in the Italian fishery supply chain”. Food Control, 46:10-17.
12. Asioli, D. Næs, T., Granli, B.S. Almli, V. L. (2014). “Consumer preferences for iced coffee determined by conjoint analysis: an exploratory study with Norwegian consumers”. International Journal of Food Science & Technology, 49(6): 1565-1571.
13. Asioli, D., Canavari, M., Pignatti E., Obermowe, T., Sidali, K. L., Vogt, C., Spiller, A. (2014). “Sensory experiences and expectations of Italian and German organic consumers”. International Journal of Food and Agribusiness Marketing, 26(1): 13 – 27.
All the scientific papers published were strong linked to the topic of the MSCA fellowship which is the combination of innovative consumer methodology and empirical studies both in sensory science and experimental economics. All have served the fellow to develop experimental setups and develop a new methodology that combines sensory and experimental economics.
▪ Networking: the fellow has successfully enlarged his network both at University and industry levels: University of Arkansas and Michigan State University (US), Stellenbosch University (SA), Aarhus University (Denmark), University of Zagreb (Croatia), Technical University of Munich (Germany), University of Parthenope and Federico II University (Italy), Orkla Foods Norge (Norway) and Mace’ (Italy). All the networking activities and collaboration developed during the fellowship have served to develop methodology and are strongly linked to the other activities of the project.
▪ Seminars and Conferences: the fellow has successfully delivered a number of seminars and Conference talks in South Korea, United States, Italy, Croatia, Denmark, Sweden and Germany.
▪ Workshop: the fellow has been the organizer of two workshops in Norway and Sweden.
▪ Projects involvement: the fellow has been successfully involved in a number of ongoing projects such as ConsumerCheck, RapidCheck, Ecoberries and CulturedMeat.
▪ Courses attended: the fellow has attended a number of training courses in Norway, Finland, US and Greece.
▪ Experiment: the collaboration with Mace’ (i.e. food industry) has been successfully
• The potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far) and the main dissemination activities and exploitation of results.
As potential impact, the project has further enriched the literature around the topic of market failures in new food product development. It is quite well established in literature that high levels of market failures (40-70%) of new food product that enter every year in the market disappeared after one year from the market shelves. This fact damage both food producers which lost large amounts of financial resources as well as consumers because they find products that they do not like on the shelves. This project has significantly contributed into up-dating the literature and provided some useful consumer research methods that might help food producers to reduce market failures.
• The address of the project public website, if applicable as well as relevant contact details.
A specific website for the project has not been created due to the lack of resources.
The project supported the training activity of Dr. Daniele Asioli (i.e. the fellow) during his period spent at Nofima AS (Norway) and stay away period at University of Arkansas (US). During the project – started in March 2014 and ended up in December 2017 – the fellow has been involved in different activities and ongoing projects (ConsumerCheck, RapidCheck, Ecoberries and CulturedMeat) both in Norway and US, and also performed its own project as principal investigator. The fellow successfully developed his own project by performing an experiment that combined intrinsic and extrinsic food attributes (i.e. respectively related to sensory analysis and experimental economics) in a formal innovative methodology with the aim of better understanding of consumer acceptance of an innovative food product. Specifically, we included sensory panel analysis, followed by a consumer test where the protocol combined the sensory and non-sensory products description with measure of consumer acceptance and consumers’ willingness to pay applied to a innovative food product (i.e. healthy savoury snack bar). In addition, this contributed to improved scientific knowledge about the application of experimental economics techniques as well as experimental design in sensory science in the food sector. He attended several training courses, performed data analysis, designed research projects, organized and gave seminars and workshops, published papers, extended the collaborations both at academic and industry levels, at national and international levels as well as participated to the life of the institutes where he stayed. All the scientific papers published and collaborations developed were strongly linked to the topic of the MSCA fellowship which was the combination of innovative consumer methodology and empirical studies both in sensory science and experimental economics. All activities have served the fellow to develop experimental protocols and new methodology that combine sensory and experimental economics.
Note: the fellow did not receive any remuneration in addition to the MSCA fellowship.
• A summary description of project context and objectives.
The project has been carried out by the fellow at Nofima AS with the close collaboration of Norwegian University of Life Science (NBMU) in Norway. At Nofima AS the fellow took a seat at Consumer and Sensory Department and collaborated with the colleagues that work on sensory, statistics and consumer science. The department has a sensory lab, kitchen, and a focus group room that are used to test food products with consumers and panellists. At NMBU, the fellow has collaborated with the School of Economics & Business. The collaboration between Nofima and NMBU was central for the main experiment of the project because it combines both the areas of research (i.e. sensory for Nofima AS and economics for NMBU) central in the project, food and economic sciences. Specifically, the main experiment that combined intrinsic and extrinsic food attributes (i.e. sensory and economics science) involved in the research design, experiment and data analysis scientists from both institutes). In addition, the fellow has collaborated with some other institutions, in order to enrich the knowledge and skills both in sensory and economics. The fellow has collaborated with Orkla Foods Norge during 2014 – 2015 in an internship and was also involved in a project where both Nofima and Orkla Foods Norge were involved which helped to provide the training for the fellow for the more practical part (i.e. new food product development) which is one of the key fundamental of the project. The fellow has also collaborated since 2015 with Macefruit, an Italian food industry specialized in fruit and vegetable processing. This collaboration has been particularly relevant because it helped the fellow to perform the main experiment of his fellowship, because it allowed to combine both sensory and economics for a new food product.
In addition, the fellow has collaborated during his stay-away with the Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness at University of Arkansas (United States) since 2017 where he has been visiting scholar for 6 months from January to June 2017. During that period the fellow has carried out several activities. During this period, the fellow has attended three Graduate courses at Walton Business School such as, Econometrics II, Experimental Economics and Behavioural Economics. In addition, the fellow has attended the seminar series at the Walton Business School organized every week. Moreover, the fellow has developed an experiment that has continued later and concluded in October 2017 with the data collection. This collaboration has been particularly useful in the context of the MSCA fellowship, because the fellow has attended the above mentioned specialized courses in experimental economics which trained him for his main experiment which was one of the key pillars of the MSCA fellowship.
During the fellowship the fellow has collaborated with ongoing activities at Nofima AS. The fellow has been involved in several projects. First, the fellow has been involved in the follow-up activities of the ConsumerCheck project where he carried out the data analysis of some consumers’ databases and together with some colleagues contributed to work on several research papers which are listed below. Second, the fellow has been involved in the RapidCheck project where he attended several meetings and training courses which also involved industries partners which the fellow has been trained in learning and then apply in his main experiment new sensory methodology (i.e. CATA). The fellow has also been involved in the RapidCheck project participating in two research projects. The first is an experiment involving consumers to taste different types of bread, while the second involved a large consumer test involving healthy snack bars. The latter project was the main experiment conducted by the fellow where he combined intrinsic and extrinsic attribute These collaborations within projects at Nofima AS supported the training of the fellowship since he learned about new sensory methodologies and data analysis which was essential for designing the main experiment.
The fellow has achieved a number of significant results during the entire duration of the project in terms of publications. He has published 13 scientific papers in relevant and highly recognized international scientific journals. These papers have been written in closed collaboration with a variety of scientists from different countries and research institutes, such as: Nofima AS and Norwegian University of Life Science (Norway), University of Bologna, University Parthenope and University of Federico II and CIAS (Italy), University of Guelph (Canada), University of Arkansas and Michigan State University (US), University of Gottingen (Germany) and Aarhus University (Denmark). These papers have been published in a great varieties of topics both on methodological issues (conjoint analysis, comparing methods, projective mapping, choice experiments, etc.) and empirical issues (seafood, organic products, iced coffee, bread, fruits, local foods, etc.).
• A description of the main S&T results/foregrounds.
▪ Scientific papers: the fellow has published 13 scientific papers in relevant and high recognized international scientific journals.
1. Varela, P., Berget, I., Hersleth. M., Carlehøg, M., Asioli, D., Næs, T. (2017). “Projective mapping based on choice or preference: An affective approach to projective mapping”. Food Research International, 100(Part 2): 241-251.
2. Asioli, D., Aschemann-Witzel, J., Caputo, V., Vecchio, R. Annunziata, A., Næs, T., Varela, P., (2017). “Making sense of the ''clean label'' trends: a review of consumer food choice behavior and discussion of industry implications”. Food Research International, 99(1):58-71.
3. Asioli, D., Varela, P., Almli, V. L., Hersleth, M., Olsen N.V. Næs, T., (2017). “A discussion of recent methodologies for combining extrinsic and sensory properties in consumer studies”. Food Quality and Preference, 56(B):266-273.
4. Asioli, D., Næs, T., Øvrum, A. Almli, V. L. (2016). “Comparison of rating-based and choice-based conjoint analysis models. A case study based on preferences for iced coffee in Norway”. Food Quality and Preference, 48, Part A: 174-184.
5. Asioli, D., Almli, V. L., Næs, T., (2016). “Comparison of two different strategies for investigating individual differences among consumers in choice experiments. A case study based on preferences for iced coffee in Norway”. Food Quality and Preference, 54:79-89.
6. Asioli, D., Alfnes, F. (2016). “The Norwegian food market: main issues and trends”. British Food Journal, 118(10):1-2.
7. Hemmerling, S., Asioli, D., Spiller, A., (2016). “Core Organic Taste: preferences for naturalness-related sensory attributes of organic food among European consumers”. Journal of Food Products Marketing, 22(7):824-850.
8. Boecker, A., Asioli, D., (2016). “Could there be unintended effects of government support for seafood traceability implementation on business planning? Results of a survey among Italian fishery businesses”. Journal of Fisheries Science, 10(3):66-76.
9. Asioli, D. Canavari, M. Malaguti, L., Mignani, C. (2016). “Fruit Branding: Exploring factors affecting adoption of the new pear variety Angelys® in Italian large retail”. International Journal of Fruits Science, 16(3): 284-300.
10. Bazzani, C., Asioli, D. Canavari, M., Gozzoli, E. (2016). “Consumer perceptions and attitudes towards farmers' markets: the case of a Slow Food “Earth Market”®. Economia Agroalimentare, 3:283-302.
11. Asioli, D., Boecker, A., Canavari, M.(2014). “On the linkages between traceability levels and expected and actual traceability costs and benefits in the Italian fishery supply chain”. Food Control, 46:10-17.
12. Asioli, D. Næs, T., Granli, B.S. Almli, V. L. (2014). “Consumer preferences for iced coffee determined by conjoint analysis: an exploratory study with Norwegian consumers”. International Journal of Food Science & Technology, 49(6): 1565-1571.
13. Asioli, D., Canavari, M., Pignatti E., Obermowe, T., Sidali, K. L., Vogt, C., Spiller, A. (2014). “Sensory experiences and expectations of Italian and German organic consumers”. International Journal of Food and Agribusiness Marketing, 26(1): 13 – 27.
All the scientific papers published were strong linked to the topic of the MSCA fellowship which is the combination of innovative consumer methodology and empirical studies both in sensory science and experimental economics. All have served the fellow to develop experimental setups and develop a new methodology that combines sensory and experimental economics.
▪ Networking: the fellow has successfully enlarged his network both at University and industry levels: University of Arkansas and Michigan State University (US), Stellenbosch University (SA), Aarhus University (Denmark), University of Zagreb (Croatia), Technical University of Munich (Germany), University of Parthenope and Federico II University (Italy), Orkla Foods Norge (Norway) and Mace’ (Italy). All the networking activities and collaboration developed during the fellowship have served to develop methodology and are strongly linked to the other activities of the project.
▪ Seminars and Conferences: the fellow has successfully delivered a number of seminars and Conference talks in South Korea, United States, Italy, Croatia, Denmark, Sweden and Germany.
▪ Workshop: the fellow has been the organizer of two workshops in Norway and Sweden.
▪ Projects involvement: the fellow has been successfully involved in a number of ongoing projects such as ConsumerCheck, RapidCheck, Ecoberries and CulturedMeat.
▪ Courses attended: the fellow has attended a number of training courses in Norway, Finland, US and Greece.
▪ Experiment: the collaboration with Mace’ (i.e. food industry) has been successfully
• The potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far) and the main dissemination activities and exploitation of results.
As potential impact, the project has further enriched the literature around the topic of market failures in new food product development. It is quite well established in literature that high levels of market failures (40-70%) of new food product that enter every year in the market disappeared after one year from the market shelves. This fact damage both food producers which lost large amounts of financial resources as well as consumers because they find products that they do not like on the shelves. This project has significantly contributed into up-dating the literature and provided some useful consumer research methods that might help food producers to reduce market failures.
• The address of the project public website, if applicable as well as relevant contact details.
A specific website for the project has not been created due to the lack of resources.