Understanding Consumer Preference for Functional Barley Tortillas Through Sensory, Demographic, and Behavioral Data.

Consumption of whole grains as part of a health-promoting diet is encouraged among Americans due to beneficial nutrients and phytochemicals. The main objectives of this study were to investigate the effect of whole barley flour particle size on consumer acceptance of whole grain and soluble fiber-enriched tortillas; to examine the effect of demographic and behavioral data on consumer acceptance; and to establish relationships between consumer acceptance and survey results to identify market opportunities among particular groups of consumers. Four experimental tortillas and two representative commercial brands were tested by 95 untrained panelists using a 9-point hedonic scale for appearance, color, flavor, texture, and overall acceptability. Demographic and behavioral data on age, gender, ethnicity, frequency of tortilla consumption, daily effort to include fiber in the diet, consumption of tortillas containing >=1 g of dietary fiber/serving, consumption of low-fat tortillas, and tortilla brands and type used were collected. Potential market segments for these tortillas include older consumers (41+), women, Hispanics, and Asians, and frequent tortilla consumers. A response surface relating flavor and texture to overall acceptability produced almost equivalent results to the multivariate PLS results in terms of predicting overall acceptability, which facilitates analysis and interpretation.