Montasio cheese liking as affected by information about cows breed and rearing system

Abstract

European consumers are more and more aware of the credence attributes of foods, particularly of those of animal origin. The aim of the paper was to assess whether the information about production system may modify the consumer liking of cheese. Montasio PDO cheese (MC), usually made by milk from indoor reared cows of different breeds, was processed from pure milk of Italian Simmental (IS) cows (ISMC) or of IS cows grazing on mountain pasture (ALP-ISMC). A consumer test was carried out in two sessions on 60-d ripened cheeses. In the first, both cheeses were tasted by Montasio consumers in blind condition (Perceived liking, PL). Then the respondents were asked to read information about the breed and the rearing system and to give their Expected liking (EL). Two weeks after, in the second session, the same consumers tasted the two cheeses with the linked information (Actual liking, AL). Despite the similar PL average score (ISMC: 21±2·3 vs. ALP-ISMC: 23±2·2 points on Labelled Affective Magnitude scale, P>0·05), it was possible to identifying consumers’ clusters with differential liking for the two types of Montasio PDO, that were characterised by different physico-chemical properties. Consumers express a high EL for ISMC (38±2·6 points) and even more for ALP-ISMC (61±2·5 points). The AL of ISMC (35±2·1 points) was similar and statistically not different from the EL (complete assimilation of information about breed). For ALP-ISMC the assimilation was complete for consumers (29%) who have expressed a positive PL for it, at least twice as much than ISMC. For the rest of consumers, both information and intrinsic properties play a significant role in the AL of the pasture-derived cheese.