Abstract
Food texture is an important factor in the liking and choice of food. Food neophobia, the avoidance of unfamiliar foods, has been linked with sensitivity to textural properties of food. The objective of this study was to investigate the associations between food neophobia, pickiness to food textures and the liking of food items with diverse textural properties among Finnish consumers. Finnish adults aged 18−45 years were recruited. The level of food neophobia was assessed with Food Neophobia Scale (FNS). Participant’s agreement to a statement “I’m very picky regarding food textures” was measured by a 7-point Likert scale, and the degree of liking of various food items, including vegetables, fruits and berries (e.g., mushroom, cloudberry), grain products (e.g., rye bread, oatmeal), dairy (e.g., ‘squeaky cheese’, smoothie) and other foods (e.g., tofu, other plant-based proteins, shrimp) by using a 9-point hedonic liking scale. Participants were divided into three groups based on the mean (M) and standard deviation (SD) of the FNS scores: individuals with FNS scores < M − 0.5 × SD were considered ‘neophilic’, those with scores between M ± 0.5 × SD were ‘neutral’ and those with scores > M + 0.5 × SD were ‘neophobic’. Results: Consumers (N = 135, of which 88% were females) responded to the questionnaires. Of the respondents, 32% were neophobic, 34% neutral and 34% neophilic. Neophobia was associated with self-reported pickiness to food texture; neophobics were pickier compared to neophilics and neutrals (p < 0.001). Neophobics showed lower liking of tofu (p = 0.015), other plant-based proteins (p = 0.008), ‘squeaky cheese’ (p = 0.024) and shrimps (p = 0.004) compared to neophilics. Furthermore, the neutral group had a lower liking of smoothies (p = 0.046) and tofu (p = 0.004) compared to neophilics. No other differences in food liking were shown between the groups. Neophobics were less likely to have a university-level education than neutrals and neophilics (p = 0.003); age and sex did not differ between the groups. Adult consumers with food neophobia showed pickiness to food textures and lower liking of several food items with textural properties that are known to be challenging and can be described as spongy. The textural properties of foods should be considered more frequently when developing new foods to ensure more enjoyable food experiences for consumers.
Author Contributions
Conceptualization, E.K. and T.P.; methodology, E.K., T.P. and A.H.; validation, E.K. and T.P.; formal analysis, E.K.; investigation, E.K. and T.P.; resources, A.H.; data curation, E.K.; writing—original draft preparation, E.K.; writing—review and editing, T.P. and A.H.; supervision, A.H.; project administration, A.H.; funding acquisition, A.H. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.
Funding
This research was funded by Business Finland (5300/31/2021).
Institutional Review Board Statement
The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki, and approved by the Ethics Committee for Human Sciences at the University of Turku, Finland (statement 5/2023) on 18th January 2023.
Informed Consent Statement
Informed consent was obtained from all subjects involved in the study.
Data Availability Statement
The datasets presented in this article are not readily available because the data are part of an ongoing study. Requests to access the datasets should be directed to the corresponding author (E.K.).
Conflicts of Interest
Author T.P. was employed by the company Aistila Oy. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
Disclaimer/Publisher’s Note: The statements, opinions and data contained in all publications are solely those of the individual author(s) and contributor(s) and not of MDPI and/or the editor(s). MDPI and/or the editor(s) disclaim responsibility for any injury to people or property resulting from any ideas, methods, instructions or products referred to in the content. |
© 2024 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).