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This study aimed to assess if an Italian artisanal pasta filata cheese, named Provolone del Monaco, is perceived by consumers as typical or not and if any variability exists among cheeses made by different dairies.

Two experiments were performed. In the first experiment, two artisanal Provolone del Monaco having different ripening times and two industrial Provolone cheeses were evaluated. A total of 95 subjects, divided into three homogeneous groups, first rated the samples in blind condition, then, after having received information about typicality; price, and both sets of information. In the second experiment, the quantitative descriptive profiles of eight Provolone del Monaco samples aged six months and made by different dairies were compared with the quantitative descriptive profiles of the same cheese aged ten months and provolone cheeses made by industrial dairies.

Consumer results revealed that consumers knowing typicality information gave a better score to cheeses markedly different. The price together with typicality information, represented a quality indicator. Cluster analysis of descriptive scores revealed homogeneity between the equally aged Provolone del Monaco samples. Moreover descriptive data showed that cheese was characterized by several specific attributes, that the consumer, probably, recognized as typical.

It must be noticed that once it was performed in Campania, the results extrapolation to other regions or countries should not be made unless similar results are found.

This study will contribute to better addressing consumer needs and enhancing the competitiveness of traditional foods.

Temporal dominance of sensation (TDS) is a sensory method developed by Pineau et al. (2003) which studies the sequence of dominant sensations of a product during its consumption. TDS is believed to be more appropriate to explain consumer responses than static descriptive analysis due to its temporal element. The purpose of this paper is to define the temporal sensory profile of a new product: polenta stick. In particular, TDS method was used to measure the dominance of sensory attributes in polenta stick samples and dynamic consumer tests were performed in order to verify if the acceptability changed over time during sample consumption.

Eight polenta sticks, different in terms of storage conditions, cooking procedures and serving temperatures, were analysed by means of TDS with 13 assessors. During two preliminary sessions, the attributes list, constituted by the nine most cited sensations, was generated. Five replications were carried out. In dynamic consumer tests, 50 subjects were asked to give their liking on a seven-category scale for the frozen samples, in different five moments during the evaluation.

TDS results showed a significant effect of the experimental conditions on dominant attribute perception of polenta sticks. For the oven-cooked samples, more flavour attributes were perceived as dominant, whereas for the fried samples, the attributes crispness and oiliness overcame with a high panel dominance rate and for a long time. For the chilled samples, crispness had the highest panel dominance rate; whereas for the frozen samples, creaminess was the most dominant attribute. Consumer liking scores did not significantly change over time during consumption for all the samples. The fried samples received the highest liking scores, at both serving temperatures.

The chosen sensory methods gave the authors important information about the real perception of the products during consumption. A lot of foodstuffs show several sensory properties that appear in different times during evaluation and/or consumption. These properties could affect overall liking so they should be taken into account.

New dynamic sensory methods were used to characterize a new food product, i.e. polenta-based sticks. The procedure used to evaluate the liking by consumers was completely innovative, whereas the sensory method used to characterize the samples was recently developed. The new food product was developed as an aim of an Italian research project funded by MiSE (Ministero dello Sviluppo Economico) for the valorization of maize flour (MAISFOOD, Industria 2015).

The purpose of this paper is to assess what effect the consumer familiarity has on liking of Italian traditional salamis. The authors ascertained the category of consumers that has more influence on the quality judgment of the salami and investigated on the differences in the sensory attributes perception between consumers with different familiarity.

Eight samples of both Napoli and Mugnano del Cardinale salami were investigated. The study consisted of three parts: first, technical questionnaire submitted to the producers; second, descriptive analysis performed by 12 trained judges, and third, hedonic tests with different consumer categories: low familiar and high familiar consumers, trained assessors, and salami producers.

Manufacturing processes were quite heterogeneous, those differences affected the sensory profiles of both salamis. Hedonic results indicate that consumer familiarity had a significant effect on overall liking of Napoli salami. In particular, both low familiar consumers and producers give the same judgment to all the products. High familiar consumers and especially trained assessors were more selective than the other ones. Differences in the sensory attributes perception between the consumer’ categories were found.

Europe has a great number of traditional foods as a result its long history, diversity of cultures, and different climates. These foods represent a very important part of the local economy. Thus, the research effort is contributing to better understanding of the manufacturing process of two Italian traditional salamis and to better addressing consumer needs in relation to traditional foods.

The experimental procedure used in this study for consumer tests is very original and proved to be useful to obtain interesting results. The proposed research is contributing to enhance the competitiveness of those traditional foods.