Texture and taste win over apple consumers

Professor Roger Harker from the University of New Zealand was one of the guest speakers at the second day of Interpoma, the international conference and trade show on the apple.

Interpoma is held every two years in Bolzano, South Tyrol and attracts delegates from around the world to hear the latest research information, products and information about the global apple supply chain.

Professor Harker said one of the difficulties in trying to understand the behaviour of consumers when buying and product, not just apples, was that every individual has their own taste preferences.

"You all live in your own flavour world," he said.

New Zealand exports apples all around the world and the industry is a very important one for the New Zealand economy.

Professor Harker said because the country had global consumers, understanding variability among consumers was important.

He recalled various studies he and his colleagues had conducted over the past 20 years to show how appearance, size, taste and flavour impacted the purchasing habits of consumers.

Apples are a special fruit product as one of the only ones that are eaten at all times of the day.

Professor Harker said consumers often reported that there were particular types of fruit they consumed at different times of the day, for example bananas and kiwifruit is more traditionally eaten in the morning, at breakfast.

In addition there were types of fruit that were more traditionally eaten at lunch time or in the evening, such as citrus.

However apples were one of few fruits that were eaten at all times of the day, a trait Professor Harker said had something to do with their convenience.

"It has that level of convenience, they are often eaten on the go," he said.

Professor Harker said during the course of much of his research on the topic a clear hierarchy had developed on what impacts the buying behaviour of customers when they are purchasing apples: texture, taste and aromatics.

Texture and taste are the clear priorities for consumers but that is always dictated to originally by appearance.

However appearance becomes less important once a fruit has been tasted.

"Vision is the dominant human sense, it sets expectation," Professor Harker said.

"Consumers buy with their eyes, but they also become attuned to the appearance of products they regularly see."

He said consumers were quick to discard the unusual and could detect blemishes quickly.

The quality and appearance of apples is one thing that is in the hand of the orchardist and Professor Harker said it was important producers thought about this hierarchy when growing their apples.

He said growing for quality should be paramount and changes could easily be made to address some of these consumers indicators to create a quality product that is acceptable to a consumer right off the tree.

Interpoma is an international festival on the production, marketing and storage of the apple. It is held on November 24-26. Caitlin Jarvis is a guest of the Italian Trade Agency.