Impact of hedonic evaluation on consumers’ preferences for beef enriched with Omega 3: A Generalized Multinomial Logit Model approach

Abstract

The impact of hedonic evaluation on consumers’ preferences towards beef attributes including its enrichment with polyunsaturated fatty acids (PFA) was evaluated. 647 Spanish consumers were divided into two groups differentiated by the information received. Consumers evaluated five beef attributes (origin, animal diet, amount of visible fat, meat colour and price) by conducting a choice experiment (CE) and using the recently developed Generelized Multinomial Logit (G-MNL). Subsequently, consumers conducted a blind tasting of four different beef samples and later informed about what they taste. Finally consumers repeated the CE. By estimating the G-MNL, it allows respondents to have different utility function scales that describe a different uncertainty levels with respect to the choices they make. In this case, hedonic evaluation of beef samples and information had a significant impact on consumer beef preferences, choices and scale parameters. Results show that giving consumers additional information, the average error scales decreased significantly.