Effect of information on Chinese consumers' acceptance of thermal and non-thermal treated apple juices: A study of young Chinese immigrants in New Zealand

•Technology information can influence consumers' perceptions and liking of food.•Consumers evaluated the juices under three conditions: blind, label, and informed.•In blind condition, juices were liked equally regardless of processing technology.•Information had a positive or neutral effect on acceptance for HPP and PEF juice.•Positive disconfirmation occurred for thermal treated juice.

This study examined the effects of technology information on Chinese consumers' acceptance of thermal and non-thermal treated apple juices. Apple juice was treated using thermal, high hydrostatic pressure processing and pulsed-electric field processing methods and compared to untreated apple juice. The four juices were evaluated by 118 Chinese consumers in three testing conditions: (a) blind (rating acceptance of the apple juices without any information), (b) label (rating acceptance of the apple juice labels containing different technology information without tasting the juices), and (c) informed (rating acceptance of the apple juices by tasting the juices and observing the labels containing different technology information). Results showed that technology information had the strongest positive influence on consumers' acceptance for untreated and high hydrostatic pressure processed apple juices. No effect of technology information on the acceptance of pulsed-electric field treated apple juice was observed. Acceptance was lower for thermal treated apple juice, but its sensory characteristics were good enough to minimize the negative effect of technology information on acceptability. The findings of this study help manufacturers understand how technology information affect Chinese consumers' acceptance of apple juices. When marketing non-thermal processed beverages, especially high hydrostatic pressure processed ones, to young and educated Chinese consumers, food manufacturers are recommended to focus on technology information as a selling point as this information strongly influences expectations and acceptance of the product. However, it should be noted that sensory characteristics are also important factors driving consumer acceptance and hence repeated consumption.