Research Report: Do Consumer Beliefs Impact Their Preferences for Organic Specialty Baked Goods?

Past studies found that organic labels may influence consumer taste perceptions either positively or negatively, and the latter may be an issue for products consumed for pleasure. We compared taste beliefs associated with organic and conventional specialty baked goods and conducted choice experiments to examine the impact of taste beliefs on choice. Results show that respondents feel organic specialty baked goods taste worse than conventional, which impacts their willingness to pay. Offering product taste information reduced the negative impact of taste beliefs. Providing organic labeling information did not eliminate negative taste associations but did reduce the impact of taste beliefs on choice.