CONCLUSIONS
More and more emphasis is being placed on the consumer and the
marketplace as companies invest more resources in this area because
they are realizing the importance of the consumer is to the boyancy of
their business. More and more pressure is being placed on learning more
about consumer behavior, especially why a product is liked and selected
(Stone et al., 1991). By determining those product attributes that are
most important to consumer, we can focus development efforts on those
attributes to ensure they are optimal, and thus better satisfy consumer
expectations. With the consumer’s growing interest in quality, it is in
the best interests of industry to be more sensitive to consumer needs,
particularly as it relates to product’s sensory quality.” We have been
given the tools to provide a bridge between marketing and R&D and we
must use them to minimize product failure and give better targets to
breeders. By integrating the breeders, producers, retailers and “the con-
sumer” we will have greater choice, better quality and better value for
the money.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors would like to thank their colleagues at the Institute of
Food Research, especially Drs. Brown, Frewer, Rogers, Shepherd and
Sparks for their input into the content of this review. Parts of the work
reported here were funded by the EU FLAIR project CT95–0302.
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