Article

The effect of sustainability-related information on the sensory evaluation and purchase behavior towards salami products

Jihee Hwang1, Seoyoun Lee1, Minwoo Jo1, Wanil Cho2, Junghoon Moon1,*
Author Information & Copyright
1Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development, Seoul National University, Seoul 08826, Korea.
2Sensometrics Inc., 171, Dangsan-ro, Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, Korea, Seoul 07217, Korea.
*Corresponding Author: Junghoon Moon, Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development, Seoul National University, Seoul 08826, Korea, Republic of. Phone: +82-2-880-4722. E-mail: moonj@snu.ac.kr.

© Copyright 2020 Korean Society for Food Science of Animal Resources. This is an Open-Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Received: Jul 22, 2020 ; Revised: Sep 04, 2020 ; Accepted: Sep 23, 2020

Published Online: Oct 12, 2020

Abstract

Consumer’s interest in sustainable livestock farming methods has grown in response to concerns for the environment and animal welfare. The purpose of this study is to examine the different influences of sustainability product information on sensory characteristics and purchase behaviors. To accomplish this aim, the study used salami, which is an Italian-style sausage processed by fermentation and drying. Three different types of information were provided: salami made from the pork of an antibiotic-free pig (SMAFP), of an animal welfare pig (SMAWP), and of a grazing pig (SMGP). This study was conducted as an off-line experiment with Korean participants (N = 140). As a result, there were sensory differences according to the sustainability information. For the SMAFP, it had a significant difference in sourness (p < 0.05). With the SMAWP, there was a significant difference in gumminess (p < 0.10), and the SMGP had significant differences in sourness (p < 0.01), sweetness (p < 0.01), and moisture (p < 0.05). Moreover, the purchase intention and willingness to pay were significantly higher when the sustainability information was given. Especially, among the three types of salamis, participants were willing to pay the most for the SMAWP. This is one of the first consumer studies to investigate sensory evaluation and purchase behavior for various types of sustainable livestock production. These results contribute by helping sustainable meat producers and marketers become aware of the kind of sustainable information to which consumers are sensitive.

Keywords: Information effect; Sustainable livestock; Sensory evaluation; Willingness to buy