Millennial consumers’ acceptance of the sensory properties of gluten-free bread as predisposed by health and taste attitudes

Abstract

The hot and dry climate conditions of various parts of South Africa (SA) are partly why not enough wheat for breadmaking (the second most consumed staple food) is produced. Therefore, SA continues to import wheat, negatively impacting the economy. The use of flours from gluten-free (GF) indigenous climate-smart crops for bread products could offer economic advantages. There are GF commercial bread products available in SA, however, their sensory properties and drivers of liking and disliking have not been reported. Determining the acceptability of GF bread may be useful in bringing insight for the development of bread using alternative indigenous and sustainable crops like sorghum and the millets, which also happen to be GF. Food choices made by consumers, however, are affected by factors such as health and taste related considerations. The Roininen health and taste attitudes (HTA) questionnaire was developed to measure the impact consumers’ health and taste predispositions have on food choice and consumption. The use of this questionnaire has not yet been explored in Africa. The objectives of this work were (1) to determine the characteristics of selected commercial GF white, brown and seeded bread brands, (2) to determine the HTAs of a selected group of millennial consumers and (3), to determine whether the HTAs of millennial consumers’ (n=173) have an effect on the acceptability of the sensory properties of commercial GF bread. Lastly, to determine the general perceptions millennial consumers’ have on GF bread. The white and brown GF breads were firmer and had more toasted, coffee and nutty flavours, compared to their wheat controls. The seeded bread had similar physical characteristics but differed in flavour profile, where one GF sample had a toasted and coffee flavour and the other one was perceived to have a nutty flavour. The control sample had a distinct wheaty flavour. vi The HTAs questionnaire presented itself to be reliable for measuring the HTAs of the consumers (based on the coefficient alpha values of the factors). Surprisingly, no significant effect of HTA classification of the 173 consumers was found on the acceptability of the sensory properties of brown GF and wheat bread. However, most of the participants had the perception that GF bread is healthier than wheat bread. The sensory properties of the control wheat bread were the most preferred across all HTA groups in conditions where consumers were both informed about the nature of the bread (GF/ wheat bread) and uninformed (blind-coded samples). However, information about the GF/wheat containing nature of the bread had a negative effect on the acceptability of the smell of GF bread. A significant interaction effect of HTA grouping and the samples was found for the acceptability of the appearance and taste of the bread samples. This implies that the consumers in the different HTA groups had different perceptions of the appearance and taste of the samples. The crumbly, dry and firm texture of GF bread was identified as a development challenge which will need to be addressed during the development of GF bread from climate-smart crop flours, bearing in mind that the soft and moist characteristics of wheat bread should also be mimicked as much as possible. The research provides insight for the development of bread made from GF, climate-smart crop flours. Participants preferred the sensory properties of wheat bread which they are more familiar with, regardless of their HTAs and their perception that GF bread was healthier. Furthermore, information that a sample was GF had a negative effect on the acceptability of the smell of the sample. The consumers had a general perception that GF bread provides health benefits and it is more natural and organic than wheat bread. They also thought that wheat bread was more accessible, tasty, convenient and affordable than GF bread. More consumers believed that wheat bread is made from sustainable crops, which is not the case in the context of SA, hence the need for more consumer education.