Irradiation of strawberries: Influence of information regarding preservation technology on consumer sensory acceptance

• The lack of information about the irradiation process has limited its acceptance.
• Acceptance of irradiated strawberry (3.6 kGy) is smaller than the control strawberry.
• Information that strawberry is irradiated had a negative influence on the acceptance.
• The explanatory text about the irradiation process had a positive influence.

The rejection of irradiation by the population has decreased its utilisation by industries over the years. We aimed to study the impact that providing information about the treatment given to strawberries (irradiation) and additional information had on consumer acceptance. Three sessions of sensory acceptance were carried out, consisting of a blind test (S1), a test with information regarding the treatment given to strawberries (S2) and a test with information regarding the treatment along with a text explaining the irradiation process (S3). One non-irradiated and one irradiated (at 3.6 kGy) strawberry sample were served to 88 judges. The acceptance of the irradiated strawberry was positive but smaller than the control strawberry (S1 and S2) (p ≤ 0.05). In S3, the overall acceptance of the samples did not differ. The text about the irradiation process showed a positive influence on consumer acceptance.Industrial relevanceWe present a study of the impact that providing information about the treatment given to strawberries (irradiation) and additional information about the process had on consumer acceptance. Our findings demonstrate the need to educate people about the irradiation process and its applications to reach higher acceptance and, consequently, to commercialise irradiated food. These results will help industries to adopt better strategies to obtain a higher acceptance of their irradiated products.