Development of a method to measure consumer emotions associated with foods

Emotion attributes have been generally associated with product brands but little work has been published to understand consumer emotions associated with the product itself. The purpose of this series of studies was to develop an emotion-specific questionnaire to test foods with consumers in person or on the internet. A list of emotion terms was screened and validated with consumers. The emotion terms selected for foods were generally positive, as compared with emotion testing originating within a clinical framework. The list of emotions was useful in differentiating between and within categories of foods. Higher overall acceptability scores correlated with higher emotions, but differences in emotion profiles did not always correlate to differences in acceptability. A description of the approach used to develop the questionnaire, questionnaire format, effect of test context, and specific applications of the method to foods are presented. This test represents a major methodological advance in consumer testing of food products in a commercial environment.