Sensory and emotional perception of nitrite-free and meatless cooked ham alternatives; does information matter?

Abstract

The processed meat market is undergoing significant changes following the European Commission setting new reduced limits for the use of nitrites as food additives and the global shift toward meatless diets to improve human and planetary health. This study aimed to generate new consumer insights into the overall liking, sensory (CATA) and emotional (EsSense25 CATA) perception, and purchase intent of conventional, nitrite-free, and meatless cooked hams, and to understand whether the provision of health risk, health benefit, and health plus environmental benefit information can influence consumer responses to these products, respectively. Irish consumers (n = 120) evaluated each of the cooked hams twice without (blind) or with (informed) relevant information in a central location test. Results showed that regardless of experimental condition, the nitrite-free cooked ham was liked the most while the meatless product was liked the least. The provision of health benefit information significantly increased the overall liking and purchase intent of the nitrite-free product, while health plus environmental benefit information increased purchase intent of the meatless product. Following the provision of information, the conventional product was characterized by a significantly higher citation of “highly salty” while the meatless product had a significantly lower citation of “cooked ham flavour”. Moreover, for the nitrite-free product consumers cited significantly more “happy” and less “disgusted” emotional associations after the provision of information. The findings support innovation for the development of cooked hams that offer benefit in terms of health and the environment, driving opportunities for future consumer engagement within the processed meat industry.