Effect of meal accompaniments on the acceptability of a walnut oil-enriched mayonnaise with and without a health claim

This study aimed to evaluate the effect of meal accompaniments on the acceptability and sensory attribute liking for a mayonnaise enriched with walnut oil, in the presence and absence of a health claim. Through focus group interviews we chose the foods to accompany the mayonnaise and the terminology to provide the health claim to subjects during the subsequent consumer test. During the first phase of the consumer test, the subjects responded to some questions about their food habits and evaluated three samples of mayonnaise with different contents of walnut oil without any information. During the second phase, the subjects were divided into two homogeneous groups and evaluated the samples associated to three different foods. The informed group tasted the samples accompanied by the health claim, the control group without any information. When the meal accompaniments were hamburger or French fries, acceptability of mayonnaise increased, whereas boiled squid rings had a negative effect on acceptability. The health claim did not affect the average consumer response. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.