Consumer-driven product development in the kiwifruit industry

In today's business environment, a continuous supply of novel products is essential to retaining competitive advantage. Consequently, the fruit industry is under pressure to develop new cultivars. The present study describes the application of preference mapping methodology to aid product development in the kiwifruit industry. Recently, a new yellow-fleshed, sweet and fruity flavoured cultivar of kiwifruit was launched on the marketplace. In this study, a comparison of consumer preferences for this new type of kiwifruit with that of the familiar green-fleshed and sweet-tart tasting kiwifruit was undertaken. Using fruit from eight different genotypes consumer preferences for these two distinctly different types of kiwifruit were explored. Acknowledging the problems associated with sensory evaluation of fruit like kiwifruit, which ripens rapidly, careful attention was given to ensuring optimum fruit quality and even ripeness of samples presented to consumers, as well as sensory panellists. A segmented population with respect to liking of yellow-fleshed kiwifruit genotypes was observed. Consumers' acceptance of the yellow kiwifruit was not related to trait food neophobia. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.