The Impact of the Non-added sugar claim on children acceptance towards orange juice enriched with stevia. The importance of parents and children food neophobia

Abstract

The impact of nutritional claims and Food Neophobia (FN) trait on consumers’ hedonic evaluation in food products is well documented. However, there is scarce information regarding the relevance of these claims on children acceptance in the beverage. The main objective is to analyse how the non-added sugar claim and the children food Neophobia trait and that of their parents play an important role in the acceptance of orange juice enriched with Stevia. Data was collected using the Children Food Neophobia scale in a face-to-face environment of 175 parents with a hedonic evaluation test of 175 primary school students (9-10 years) from three school centres. Three commercial juices (from nectar, concentrate and 100% squeezed) and three own prepared orange juice (100% recently squeezed, 100% recently squeezed with added sugar and 100% recently squeezed with added stevia) were analysed. Results showed the importance of information on children expectation and the relevance of the nutritional claims and FN on juice acceptance, highlighting the relevance of these marketing strategies in targeting children.