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Influence of “best before” dates on expected and actual food liking

Maria Sielicka-Różyńska (Department of Food Quality and Safety, Poznań University of Economics and Business, Poznań, Poland)
Urszula Samotyja (Department of Food Quality and Safety, Poznań University of Economics and Business, Poznań, Poland)

British Food Journal

ISSN: 0007-070X

Article publication date: 11 July 2022

Issue publication date: 21 March 2023

473

Abstract

Purpose

The manner in which consumers understand and interpret date labels influences their attitudes toward food quality at the purchase and consumption stage. The purpose of this study is to (1) evaluate the influence of “best before” dates on expected food liking and (2) assess how sensory perception and expectations toward “best before” dates influence actual food liking.

Design/methodology/approach

A consumer sensory study was conducted among 110 participants in Poland. The participants' attitudes were examined toward food products (rice, sponge cookies, canned fruit salad and leaf tea) labelled with different “best before” dates and toward those same but unlabelled food products. The consumers' expected liking based solely on “best before” dates were also evaluated.

Findings

The analysis showed that date labels may have an opposite contribution to consumer apprehension of foods. It is proved that “best before” dates maintain a consumer’s positive attitude toward fresh products and reduce consumer uncertainty regarding food edibility, which would be experienced in the absence of date labels. Conversely, results of this study confirmed date labels' role in consumers denigrating expired food and showed consumers' unreasonable convictions that the food's sensory attributes were altered. Thus, otherwise safe and edible food was wasted – it was shelf-life information, not sensory quality, that determined the tested food's perceived value.

Originality/value

The originality of this study is that it involves product assessment to explore the interaction between consumers and a food product's sensory attributes in the context of making decisions that are influenced by the “best-before” date.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

This study was supported by the National Science Centre (Narodowe Centrum Nauki) in Poland [grant number 2017/27/B/HS4/00805]. The authors would like to thank Ms. Marta Szeliga for her technical assistance.

Citation

Sielicka-Różyńska, M. and Samotyja, U. (2023), "Influence of “best before” dates on expected and actual food liking", British Food Journal, Vol. 125 No. 4, pp. 1317-1334. https://doi.org/10.1108/BFJ-08-2021-0935

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited

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