Consumers’ acceptability of fortified

gari, a cassava product in Benin

L. Adinsi1, L. Prin2, N. Kougblenou1, A. Escobar3, C. Sacca1, J.

Hounhouigan1, T. Tran2, D. Dufour2,3, N. Akissoé1, G. Fliedel2

1.UAC, Benin; 2.CIRAD, France, 3.CIAT, Colombia

World Congress on Root and Tuber Crops, China, Jan 21, 2016

Context

The case study 3 of RTB project on cassava has for objective to

ensure that products resulting from new varieties and from both

current and new processing technologies meet consumer taste.

This project is divided in two groups of studies including sensory

and consumer tests to know if a new or improved traditional

process developed for making new or improved traditional

products could be adopted

Five African countries are involved: Nigeria, Tanzania, Sierra

Leone, Benin and Cameroon.

Benin has chosen to work on Gari

Most popular staple food (a sort of

semolina) made from cassava by peeling,

washing, rasping, fermentation/pressing,

and cooking/drying

Consumed dry, or diluted into tap

water added with sugar, coconut,

peanuts/cashew nuts, or as a cooked

paste accompanied with a sauce

Gari?

Cassava

Cooking gari

Gari

Rationale

Fortified gari (added with palm

oil or/and soybean) resulting from

research and endogenous innovative

actions was recently developed.

Large variability of traditional gari types depending on -Degree of fermentation (1 to 8 days) : little to very fermented

-Degree of cooking/drying ; very dried to little wet in the heart

-Particle size : fine to coarse particles

-Homogeneity of particle size : homogeneous to heterogeneous

-Presence of fibers : few or many fibers

-Colour : white to brown

Up to now, the consumption of those new gari types is not

still spread to all the regions in Benin.

Consumers’ perception of

fortified gari, could be key

information required to develop

strategies for marketing it.

Rationale

Consumption form : Dry

5 samples : Three traditional gari (Ahayoé.UF.Ik, Sohia.F.Da,

F.Dj), two fortified with palm oil (Palmoil.UF.Ou) and soybean (Soy.UF.Ou)

JAR scale (colour, texture

during chewing, degree of roasting,

acidic taste, particle taste)

CATA questions : 21 terms [sensory (16)

and emotional (5)]

Overall liking: 9-point

hedonic scale (1=Dislike

extremely, 9=Like extremely)

121 consumers

Methodology

Statistical analysis

ANOVA and hierarchical cluster analysis were

performed on overall liking consumer data

Penalty analysis was carried out on JAR test data

PCA was performed on CATA data

MFA was carried out on CATA and overall liking

data

7.1 6.7 6.7

5.2

3

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

Soy.UF.Ou Ahayoé.UF.Ik Palmoil.UF.Ou Sohia.F.Da F.Dj

Con

sum

er a

ccep

tab

ilit

y

(sco

re)

Fortified gari (with soybean or palm oil) was as liked as one

traditional gari (Ahayoe)

Acceptability scores

Besides Ahayoe gari (traditional), fortified gari (added with

palm oil or soybean) was accepted by 92% of consumers

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

Cluster 1 (56%) Cluster 2 (36%) Cluster 3 (8%)

Mea

n a

ccep

tab

ilit

y Ahayoé.UF.Ik Sohia.F.Da Palmoil.UF.Ou Soy.UF.Ou F.Dj

Mean consumer acceptability by consumer

segment

0 1 2 3

Particle size

Acidic taste

Degree of roasting/drying

Texture during chewing

Colour Mean drops

Too weak

Too strong

“Colour ts” and “acidic taste ts” received higher mean decreases

(> 2.5) in overall consumer acceptance.

Mean drops in liking for the "too weak

(tw)" and "too strong (ts)"

Objective : Identify potential directions for product improvement on

the basis of sensory attributes presented to consumers

Particle size

Too weak

Particle size

Too strong

Acidic taste

Too weak

Acidic taste

Too strong

Degree of

roasting

Too strong

Texture

during

chewing

Too strong

Colour

Too strong

0

0,25

0,5

0,75

1

20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34

Pen

alt

y

% of consumers

The highest penalties (penalty higher than 0.75 and more than

25% of cases) were observed for acidic taste and colour

Significant penalties according to the

proportion of consumers

Ahayoé.UF.Ik

Sohia.F.Da

Palmoil.UF.Ou

Soy.UF.Ou F.Dj

Coarse

particle

Small particle

Yellow

White

Dirty white

Heterogeneous

Homogeneous

Fibrous

Crusty

Less dry

Dry

Palm oil

odour

Fermented

odour

Acidic taste

Sweet taste

Grilled taste

-2

-1,5

-1

-0,5

0

0,5

1

1,5

2

-3 -2,5 -2 -1,5 -1 -0,5 0 0,5 1 1,5 2 2,5

F2

(25,7

8 %

)

F1 (49,15 %)

Relationship between CATA descriptors

and gari samples

Ahayoé.UF.Ik

Sohia.F.Da

Palmoil.UF.Ou

Soy.UF.Ou

F.Dj

Good taste

Flavorless

Attracting

Nourishing

Good for

health

-2

-1

0

1

2

-4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4

F2

(4,2

2 %

)

F1 (95,04 %)

Relationship between CATA descriptors

and gari samples

Coarse particle Small particle

Yellow

White

Dirty white

Heterogenous

Homogeneous Fibrous

Crusty

Less dry

Dry

Palm oil odour

Fermented

odour

Acidic taste

Sweet taste

Grilled taste

Good taste

Flavorless

Attracting

Nourishing

Good for health

Overall liking

-1

-0,75

-0,5

-0,25

0

0,25

0,5

0,75

1

-1 -0,75 -0,5 -0,25 0 0,25 0,5 0,75 1

F2

(20,2

0 %

)

F1 (59,61 %)

Sensory descriptors Perceptions Overall liking

Sweet taste, white, yellow, crusty, dry, palm oil odour, small particle

and homogeneous were the main sensory attributes drivers of liking

CATA descriptors responsible for consumer

liking

y = 17,457x - 1537 R² = 0,9452

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

110

88 90 92 94

Cru

sty

Dry matter content (%)

y = -105,34x + 545,37

R² = 0,8474

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

4,2 4,5 4,8 5,1 5,4

Aci

dic

tast

e

pH

Correlations between sensory descriptors and

physico-chemical characteristics

Objective : Validate the consumer study

Lower production and consumption of these new gari

types could not be explained by an overall disliking by

Beninese consumers.

CONCLUSION

New strategies for marketing

fortified gari will be developed

on basis of descriptors that

drive consumers' liking.

THANK YOU