Opportunities for the food industry in general, include new products for older consumers. Hence, it is important to understand the thinking/mind of older consumers to be able to meet their product requirements.
4.1. QMA Study
A snack is defined as foods that can be eaten in place of, or in between meals, that are convenient because they can be quick and easy to eat [
24]. Snacking (‘snackification’) is one of the top five consumer trends in 2019 and is expected to gain further momentum in the future [
25]. Snacking now makes up nearly half of all eating occasions and is one of the most profound changes in consumers’ behaviour. Time-poor consumers, rising health consciousness, higher discretionary incomes and demand from grocery are drivers of snacking [
26]. Snacking habits are no longer purely the domain of children and people under 30´s, with 96% of Australians consuming some sort of snack on a regular basis [
8]. Thus, snacking has now pervaded all segments of society, including ‘seniors’. About 84% of non-institutionalised adults aged 65 years and older snack [
27]. Snacking on foods and beverages between meals can be an effective way to increase daily calories in older adults [
27]. Older adult non-snackers consumed 134 fewer kcal than the 1600 kcal recommended by the US Department of Agriculture [
28] for sedentary older women, while snackers consumed 1718 kcal daily [
5]. Food intake in general is affected as people get older since texture and flavour of foods, particularly meat, is perceived differently. Products such as beef jerky, that once were easy to eat can become difficult, as people age. It is also believed that taste bud sensitivity might decrease with age, causing reduced perception of certain flavours, such as saltiness.
The qualitative data collected on snacking behaviour shows that older Australian consumers are eating small portions of food throughout the day in place of meals. Mostly, they are consuming ready-to-eat products. Baby boomers (people born between 1946 and 1965) snack to avoid consuming larger meals, often alone or just in a group of two [
26]. This was not true for older Chinese who eat regular meals throughout the day.
Although the recommended daily intake for adults is 0.8 g protein/kg body weight, some aged care nutritionists have recommended that older people should increase their daily intake of protein to 1.2 g per body weight [
29]. For example, a person weighing 70 kg will need to increase their intake of protein from 56 to 84 g per day. An Australian Health Survey in 2011–2012 showed that older males are only getting 1.6 servings of lean meat and poultry, fish, eggs, tofu, nuts and seeds, and legumes/beans vs. the recommended 2.5 servings while older women are getting only 1 serving vs. the recommended 2 servings [
30]. Protein intake should be increased in older adults, given its importance in delaying sarcopenia. Snacking or eating protein dense foods, such as meat products, can create a positive impact in increasing protein intake.
When considering the importance of texture vs. flavour, the assumption that older adults have difficulty eating beef jerky and meat sticks due to their dry and hard nature [
31,
32] turned out to be confirmed by the Australian participants. Many of them had consumed these products at a younger age and were now missing the textures and their flavours. Interestingly, eating the skin of cocktail sausages was also a difficult task for most of the Australian participants. In contrast, Chinese participants enjoyed the chewiness of beef jerky and ate the cocktail sausages without peeling off the skin. It is clear that while age can have an effect on eating quality of meat, there is also a cultural or geographical overlay.
Age-related changes in taste and chemosensory acuity may be the result of impaired swallowing and difficulty chewing, because of associated problems with teeth and gums and potential issues arising from the need to take medications for various health conditions [
31]. This needs to be considered when developing food products for older adults. In our study, no participants were taking strong medication, hence this was not relevant. In a relevant study, authors fed subjects beef with contrasting textures (either tough and dry or tender and juicy, obtained by varying post-mortem aging and cooking temperature) [
32]. Regardless of the beef texture, chewing duration before swallowing was longer, and bolus residual strength was greater for older compared to younger adults. Although there have been several studies developing meat products for the elderly [
33,
34,
35,
36], there is still insufficient information on a wide range of meat products that are easy to eat and consequently increase protein consumption in older people. These overall difficulties with texture, drives older consumers to consider more softer textures in their food choices and avoid eating meat. If consumption of meat and meat products is reduced, significant nutritional advantages are lost, and total intake of energy and high-quality protein may fall below dietary requirements [
33].
Understanding what the appropriate texture range is for a product becomes critical to creating a novel red meat snack that will be easily consumed, while also providing the satisfaction of meat consumption. When eating meat products, particle size was found to be important for ease of break down in the mouth. For instance, in the present study, fine particles in liver pate were preferred by older Australians over ‘fibrous’ pieces of meat bolognese as the term ‘fibrous’ can include ‘stringiness’, which can make the product difficult to eat. A soft texture with a ‘little bit of bite’, ‘melty’ but ’not fibrous mouthfeel’ and ’moisture’, during consumption for Australians and in the product itself for Chinese, were also important traits for older consumers.
As we age, the way our senses (hearing, vision, taste, smell, touch) function changes and gustatory dysfunction may indeed be related to the normal ageing process [
37]. Participants, especially older Australians, found cocktail sausages too salty. Again, this may present a gap in the marketplace for older consumers, as they are perceiving a salty flavour, which goes against their desire for low-salt products for health reasons.
In the QMA mapping and group discussion, the moderator explored how participants felt towards processed foods and what they considered as ‘unhealthy’. Interestingly, older Australians defined ‘unhealthy’ as a high content of fat, salt and sugar, which agrees with the global definition [
24]. However, for older Chinese, a high amount of sugar seemed to be the biggest reported trigger for unhealthiness, with less focus on fat and salt. Both groups had a negative perception of processed foods, which they classified as too artificial, e.g., cheese sticks vs. cheese block. The latter product is preferred as it is considered closer to a whole food, and less processed.
4.2. Conjoint Study
Country of birth was a defining factor for classifying importance of each product trait as shown in the segmentation results (
Figure 4 and
Figure 5). Ethnicity is often found to be important for food perception and consumption, possibly due to differences in oral physiology and anatomy between consumers belonging to different ethnicities, which might cause differences in food oral processing behaviour [
38,
39]. Others have also found ethnicity to be important when investigating the consumer perception of meat alternatives in USA, India and China [
40].
Laggards are the last users to adopt a product and generally they prefer simple products [
41]. They are the last to pick up on innovations and only buy an innovative product when it works completely flawlessly, and all traditional alternatives are no longer available [
42]. Mainstream users, as the name implies, refers to the general public or majority of consumers [
43]. They rely on security, trying the products after they have been proven and the system “forced them to” [
42]. Lead users are users whose present strong needs will become general in a marketplace months or years in the future [
21]. Lead users are defined as open to innovation and pioneers among all users in a population. They actively participate in product development, often creating their own prototypes based on their need [
42].
Older Chinese consumers seemed to be more ‘adventurous’ when choosing food products compared to older Australian consumers who behave more as mainstream and laggards. In contrast, the older Australian QMA participants showed less interest in trying new products unless they were highly recommended by trusted people. Chinese culture differs significantly from Western and even other Asian cultures, so consumers have different values and a different perception of product attributes [
44,
45,
46].
Product and ingredient uniqueness, provenance and channel concepts of beef were important in terms of premiumness for both older Chinese and Australians consumers. However, the importance of each level within attributes differed between Australia and China. According to [
47], Chinese consumers may desire similar product features (e.g., brand name, quality and flavour) to Western consumers, but the value that consumers attach to the same product may differ cross-nationally. For instance, whole meat cuts and premium meat are highly preferable for Australians in comparison with Chinese.
Product uniqueness, provenance and channel concepts were the most relevant attributes for premiumness for both older Australians and Chinese when buying pork. Chinese like to buy their pork form a Chinese seller, but if the meat is from Australia, their interest increased. The same cannot be said for Australians who said they preferred to by pork from a specialty store (e.g., local butcher). In a study investigating consumer preference for pork in different Asian countries, including China, specific consumer preferences differed for meat cut choices, provenance, price and sensory characteristics, and the authors suggested this should be considered carefully to increase product consumption [
48] by offering the specific products each cohort is demanding.
For cheese, ingredient and channel were important for both countries. Using Australian milk for cheese manufacture was polarising for Australians and Chinese, as were other elements. This might be due to the low cheese consumption by older Chinese consumers. Furthermore, older Chinese preferred dry dairy products, including those from Australian origin [
49], which is reflected in our findings.
For chocolate, channel was important for both countries. “Bush ingredients”, which implies native Australian or natural food, was defined as important for respondents in the conjoint study and agrees with the finding from the QMA of participants wanting to consume less processed cheese, as ingredients play a key role for a product to be considered as more or less processed. In a study on consumer views on “healthier” processed meat, authors reported findings from seven focus groups where participants considered that, in order to improve the (perceived) healthiness of those products, the focus should be on the use of better-quality ingredients, e.g., natural ingredients, and less salt, fat, preservatives and other additives [
50].