How can previous knowledge about food science/technology and received information affect consumer perception of processed orange juice?

This article evaluates the perception of whether orange juice processing is different between lay and nonlay (people who studied or study food science/technology/engineering) consumers. It also assesses how it is influenced by the received information about the products. More than 1,000 lay and 340 nonlay consumers responded to blind and informed online questionnaires about fresh and processed orange juices. The results showed a consensual positive evaluation for fresh juice and negative for powdered drink mix in both questionnaires. Other categories of processed juices were evaluated as a little (concentrated) or very different (processed, pasteurized, and sterilized) among lay and nonlay consumers in blind questionnaires, where product aversion was more frequent among the lay participants. In contrast, information changed the participants' perception about processed juices (especially pasteurized and sterilized products), resulting in a more consensual evaluation among lay and nonlay participants. Therefore, access to correct information allows consumers (especially lay ones) to make more conscious choices about their juices. Practical Applications Consumers' rejection regarding processed juices is growing due to associating them with processed food and adverse health effects. The comparison of the perception of lay and nonlay consumers about fresh and processed orange juices showed two practical applications: (a) the juice industry needs to improve consumers' access to information about product ingredients and process characteristics, aiming to improve product acceptance and (b) nonlay consumers have different perceptions of processed products than lay ones, therefore data collected from nonlay consumers (common in research carried out at universities) need to be used with caution.