Influence of evoked contexts on consumers' rejection of two products: Implications for shelf life estimation

Consumers' increasing demand for fresh, safe and high quality products requires food companies to accurately estimate sensory shelf life and tolerance limits for sensory defects. Sensory shelf-life and acceptance limits for sensory defects have been estimated with consumers' rejection data using survival analysis without considering contextual variables, which could have a major influence on consumers' perception. The aim of the present study was to study how consumers' rejection is affected by different evoked contexts in a laboratory setting. Two studies were carried out to study the influence of evoked contexts on consumers' rejection. In the first study consumers' rejection for consumption at home and purchase at a supermarket was compared using orange juice samples with different storage times. In the second study, consumers' rejection for consumption at home and purchase at a supermarket for brands of different familiarities was compared using dulce de leche with different plastic flavour intensities as samples. Consumers' rejection data were analysed using survival analysis. The use of written scenarios to evoke different contexts affected consumers' rejection of products with different storage times and intensities of a sensory defect. Shelf lives that were estimated based on consumers' rejection to purchase were shorter than those estimated considering consumers' rejection to consume. In the second study, consumers' rejection under the consumption at home evoked context was similar to rejection to repeat purchase of a usual brand. However, a large difference existed between the evoked contexts that involved a usual and a new brand. Consumers were harsher when considering to repeat purchase of a new brand compared to their usual brand. These results suggest that the consideration of evoked contexts could contribute to increase the accuracy of sensory shelf life estimation and acceptance limits of sensory defects, leading to more informed business decisions.