The effects of different types of product information on the consumer product evaluation for fresh cod in real life settings

The effects of different types of product information on consumer product evaluation were examined in real life settings. Cod fillets were presented to 1440 consumers drawn from the Dutch TasteNet consumer panel for assessment in their own households. The product was presented accompanied by product information included in the package labelling. A control product, labelled simply as cod, was included. Consumers reported their evaluation of the product for overall and analytic sensory attributes. It was found that information about product type, price, freshness and the advantages of fish farming could influence product evaluation. Cod labelled as wild, highly priced or recently caught was judged more favourably than the unlabelled product. Information on the advantages of farming had a negative effect on product evaluation that interacted with price so as to minimise the positive effect of the latter. Interaction of the information provided with product perception in a realistic situation demonstrated that farmed fish was associated with less favourable product characteristics.