Health Labels Influence Flavor Perception

15 Dec 2015 --- Ghent University researchers have found that food labels influence the perception of flavor, with light products considered less tasty.

Researchers at the flavor lab Sensolab (Faculty of Bioscience Engineering) organized a flavor experiment with young Gouda cheese for a test audience of 129 people. Without knowing it, the participants tasted the same cheese several times, but each time with a different label, such as 'light' or 'reduced salt'.

The results showed that the 'light' label, associated with a lower fat content, results leads to a lower overall liking of the cheese. Cheese with a claim about a reduced salt content, on the other hand, was labeled as equally delicious as regular cheese.

Furthermore, the researchers found that the flavor that we expected with a particular tag, was experienced even more. For example: the subjects reported that the cheese tasted less salty when carrying the label 'with reduced salt content'.

This study illustrates that flavor perception is between the ears, and that food labeling plays an important role. Food companies can take this into account, but the presented results are also interesting for health promotion purposes. If people tend to associate health labels with a lower liking, then the researchers suggest that health agencies should start to think about how the overall flavor perception could be improved. One solution is to work with more general health labels, as earlier research showed focusing on specific ingredients is not the best solution.