Conclusions from the cross-country preference mapping experiment

• Consumers discriminate the taste of different varieties
• Preference for appearance and taste are poorly correlated
• Several clusters of consumers can be identified in each country
• The overall analysis revealed that there were less differences across countries than between consumers of the same country
• The most important traits for consumer preferences are: flavour (particularly sweetness intensity and sweetness to sourness ratio) and texture (mealiness, firmness-both soft & firm tomato appreciated). There is thus a possible differenciation of varieties through their sensory characteristics
• Consumer preference is influenced by fruit aspect. It is thus recommended to introduce aspect attributes as descriptors for variety profiling.