Does health information influence consumer perception of seaweed-containing foods? A repeated exposure study

Seaweed has been proposed as a nutrient-dense, sustainable ingredient, but they are underutilized in the Western world due to undesirable sensory properties or unfamiliarity. One method to increase consumption, may be to educate consumers on the nutritional benefits of seaweed. Nutritional information has been found to have a positive influence on consumer perception of foods. Furthermore, familiarity with a product has been found to influence consumer acceptance. As such, this study explored how nutritional information and repeated exposure influenced consumer perception and acceptance of seaweed, on its own (dulse- Palmaria palmata ) and when it is incorporated into a food product (bread with brown seaweed, Ascophyllum nodosum ). Participants (n = 148) evaluated dulse and seaweed bread with and without nutritional information in two different testing sessions. Consumers evaluated both seaweed products for their perceived tastiness, healthiness, sustainability, acceptance, and sensory perception using check-all-that-apply (CATA). The results revealed the nutritional information had an influence on the tastiness, healthiness, and sustainability of the dulse, but only influenced the tastiness of the seaweed bread. The repeated exposure increased acceptance of the seaweed bread and decreased selection of negative attributes during the CATA task, when evaluating both the dulse and seaweed bread. The results identified that participants' evaluations of dulse (seaweed on its own) were strongly influenced by providing nutritional information. Future studies need to continue to explore how to nutritional information can be used to influence attitudes towards consumption of seaweed.