Ecropolis - Trasparency in sensory properties and consumer expectations in organic food

Sensory properties of food products are an important market success factor in the European food sector especially on the organic market, where many producers and distributors of organic food claim superior tastes for their products compared to the conventional alternative. This argument is still subject to a hard debate, from an objective scientific perspective, but especially from the subjective consumer point of view. Due to specific regulations for organic production (EC regulations, Codex Alimentarius, or standards of organic associations) organic products show considerable differences in sensory properties compared to conventional products. Because consumer preferences are largely dependent on their long-term nutritional habits, for new consumers expecting superior properties from organic products, these unfamiliar sensory experiences can lead to dissatisfaction (Buchecker et al. 2004). This is an important barrier for SMEs in the organic market to reach new consumer segments. On the other hand sensory acceptance of organic products could be influenced and enhanced by a positive image of organic food. The EC-funded project Ecropolis analyses this objectives in six European countries (Switzerland, Germany, Italy, Poland, The Netherlands, France) within six product groups (dairy-, meat-, bakery-, oil-, tomato-products and apples). Organic associations, researchers and organic SME’s work together to evaluate the situation on the national market and identify Pan-Eeuropean effects. The presentation reveals the national and the European sensory preferences in respect to the six product groups (preference mapping) by combination of objective dimensions (sensory description / QDA) with the subjective perception (marketing study) from consumers. Results give better knowledge about the consumer expectations of sensory quality in organic food. Furthermore these results combined with the impact of regulations and legislations on sensory properties give direct information for further product development or product improvement potential. Furthermore the evaluation of potential of organic labeling on sensory preferences (image) gives recommendations for the sensory marketing for organic food, to obtain consumers emotions and to give clear information about proposed sensory differences in organic food, in order to achieve a clear segmentation from the conventional market. The knowledge in these fields is very limited, so the main funding of the project Ecropolis is to develop the first Organic Sensory Information System (OSIS) an interactive and multilingual data base to increase the transparency of the sensory properties of organic food for different stakeholders and consumers.