Consumer’s Acceptance and Attitudes Towards Heritage Grains : Development and Evaluation of Pasta Based on Dala Lantvete

Sammanfattning

Since the modernisation of agriculture, modified varieties of grains have emerged and taken over the market. Older varieties have been neglected, forgotten, and eradicated. One example is the Swedish wheat variety “Dala lantvete”, which originally appeared in the region of Dalarna. The wheat manages well in extreme weather and climate conditions, requires fewer pesticides, and has a good nutritional value. Dala lantvete was used in product development to investigate consumer acceptance and the possibility of re-establishing heritage cereals. A consumer test was performed with 66 consumers that evaluated three types of pasta (100% wholegrain Dala lantvete, 50/50 wholegrain Dala lantvete and Durum wheat, and 100% commercial Durum wheat) regarding texture, taste, appearance, and entireness on a hedonic scale (1-9). Attitudes regarding cultured grains, wholegrains, sustainability, and plant-based food have also been investigated using a Likert scale (1-5). Data have been analysed in SPSS with Friedman’s, Wilcoxon signed ranks, and Mann-Whitney U test. The result shows that consumers do not like whole wheat pasta as much as durum wheat pasta, however, there is potential for improvement. Consumer attitudes differ especially between individuals who reduce meat in their diets, compared to omnivores.