Abstract

This study aimed to determine whether the range of ‘quality’ levels offered by UK food retailers in the form of nationally advertised and retailers’ own label products which are differentiated by price, provides a corresponding range of sensory qual-ities which can be detected by consumers. Under blind testing conditions, student consumers assessed three food products (bread, bacon and orange juice) at three ‘quality’ levels (own-label economy; own-label premium and national products) purchased from four major U.K. food retailers (Asda, Sainsbury, Co-operative and Tesco). Fifty students (aged 18–25) assessed the hedonic liking of odour, texture, flavour, overall acceptability, colour, and acceptability based on appearance and purchase intent. The results demonstrated significant differences between ‘quality’ levels and retailers. For all three products, colour was generally less liked for own-label economy and own-label premium products than for national products, but there was no significant difference (P > 0.05) between the ‘quality’ levels for flavour and overall acceptability. Regarding purchase intent and acceptability based on appearance, national branded bread was preferred to own-label brands; for bacon, there were no significant differences; and for orange juice, own-label economy was significantly less acceptable and less likely to be purchased than own-label premium and national brands. There were some significant differences between retailers for some product attributes, leading to the purchase intent for Co-operative bread and Tesco orange juice being lower than from other retailers. Overall, it can be concluded that student consumers found few differences based solely on their liking of the products’ sensory attributes that would justify the price differentials between the retail ‘quality’ levels.