Artisanal and sanitary inspection seals impact on acceptance and emotions of colonial cheese consumption

Abstract

AbstractThe objective of the present work was to evaluate the effect of sanitary inspection and artisanal related seal on colonial cheese acceptance and the emotions they evoke on consumers. Volunteers blindly rated their acceptance of four samples of a same batch cheese, which were related to different labels and checked all emojis. When consumers were exposed to the label without any seal the acceptance were higher than when they were presented to labels with the seals studied. Cheese acceptance evoked positive emotions, meanwhile the sanitary inspection seal was presented on product label, neutral, and negative emotions. The artisanal seal was associated with positive emotions, which was similar behavior when both seals were on cheese label. The impact of the sanitary inspection seal stimuli on acceptance was not related to volunteers' sociodemographic profile. Thus, seals impact on sensorial perception and emotions, and it is related to consumers' socio‐demographic characteristics.Practical applicationResults contribute to the discussion over the artisanal products (cheeses in the present work) showing that the presence of regulatory seals impacts negatively on sensory acceptance and evokes other emotions that not only with positive valence. Also, results show that sociodemographic profile is related to sensory perception changes due to the presence of seals onto cheese labels. Thus, the present work brings the important information for to governments' agencies to further food policies and cheesemaking factories marketing drivers.