Understanding consumer liking for sustainable products: insights from EsSense25 and the Emotional Index

Rapid population growth and resource depletion necessitate exploring sustainable food solutions, and brewery spent grain (BSG), rich in fiber, presents a promising approach. This study investigated consumer acceptance of BSG-enriched bread, pasta, and chocolate milk combining explicit stated as well as novel implicit physiological measures for emotional states. For explicit stated emotional data, 100 consumers rated product liking and completed the EsSense25 questionnaire; while for implicit physiological data 30 participants also underwent psychophysiological measurements using a Shimmer3 GSR system to record Skin Conductance Response (SCR) and heart rate (HR) for each product, to calculate the Emotional Index (EI). Results showed BSG's impact on liking was product-dependent. "satisfied" and "interested" correlated positively with liking, while "disgusted" and "bored" correlated negatively. PCA revealed distinct emotional profiles for BSG-enriched pasta. Regression models identified "disgusted" and "satisfied" as key liking predictors. The EI was higher during tasting, but didn't correlate significantly with liking. This study emphasizes the importance of considering both sensory and emotional factors in sustainable food product development, demonstrating the potential of combining traditional methods with techniques like the EI and EsSense25 for a deeper understanding of consumer acceptance.