228 
 

Journal homepage: www.fia.usv.ro/fiajournal 
Journal of Faculty of Food Engineering,  

Ştefan cel Mare University of Suceava, Romania  
Volume XII, Issue 3- 2014, pag.228  - 237 

 

 

 

STATISTICAL STUDIES ON CONSUMER’S PERCEPTION OF FRUIT 

 
*Cristina-Elena HREȚCANU1 , Alice – Iuliana ROȘU1 

1Faculty of Food Engineering,  Stefan cel Mare University of Suceava,   
13 Universitatii Street, 720229, Suceava, Romania 
cristina.hretcanu @ fia.usv.ro, alicer @ fia.usv.ro  

*Corresponding author 
Received July 15th 2014, accepted September 12th 2014 

 
Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that an important criterion in determining 
consumers’ fruit choice is not only the sensory properties, but consumer’s previous information 
acquired on fruit which can be turned into beliefs and preferences. The starting point consists of the 
following aspects: to establish the frequency of consumption of fruit, to determine fruit varieties 
associated with the colour preferred by consumers; to identify the considerations according to which a 
person would choose a certain type of fruit and to analyse  consumer’s feedback on product sensorial 
properties, to study consumer’s attitudes in the choice of a fruit and to understand the influence of 
colour on consumer’s choice of fruit.  
 
Keywords: crossmodal correspondence, focus group, repertory grid method, sensory properties 
 
 
1. Introduction 
 
Consumer’s response to a given fruit 
depends on the positive or negative 
response to its sensory properties, the 
knowledge and opinions about it and a 
behavioral component, involving 
intentions to consumption of some fruit. 
[1]  
Cross-overs between the vision and the 
taste pathways occur to create color and 
taste associations [2]. Thus, we can state 
that the choice of a fruit depends on 
crossmodal correspondences between 
several factors. “Crossmodal 
correspondences have been defined as a 
tendency for a sensory feature, or 
attribute, in one modality, either physically 
present or merely imagined, to be matched 
(or associated) with a sensory feature in 
another sensory modality” [3]  
Crossmodal associations among taste, 
flavor or odour and other sensory 

dimensions have been reported in many 
papers regarding food product acceptance 
([4-11]), where this term is used to refer to 
compatibility effect between some 
attributes, such as colour and different 
other qualities of food product. 
As non-verbal elements, food colours can 
influence consumer’s sensory and hedonic 
expectations. Also, if these expectations 
are high, consumers may be interested in 
consuming these food products [12-15].  
We have tried to answer the question 
“Why are colors so important for 
consumers?”. First of all, fruit colour is 
important because it shows the presence of 
beneficial substances for the human body. 
Thus, fruit contains bioactive substances 
(such as phytochemicals) that have 
beneficial properties [16] and also produce 
bright colors in fruit [17]. For example, 
fruit of green colour (such as green kiwi 
fruit, green aples, avocados, limes) contain 
high antioxidant activity [18].  



Food and Environment Safety - Journal of Faculty of Food Engineering, Ştefan cel Mare University - Suceava 
Volume XIII, Issue 3  – 2014 

Cristina-Elena HREȚCANU, Alice – Iuliana ROȘU, Statistical studies on consumer’s  perception of fruit, 
Food and Environment Safety, Volume XIII, Issue 3 – 2014, pag. 228 – 237 
 
 

229

The phytochemicals responsible for orange 
colour in fruit are carotenoids which are 
involved in immune responses of 
organisms [19]. Flavonoids together with 
β-cryptoxanthin are responsible for the 
light orange to yellow colour of fruits 
(such as peach, papaya or orange) and they 
possess antiviral, anti-inflammatory, 
antihistamine and antioxidant properties 
[20]. Red-purple colour of fruit (such as 
grapes, prunes, berries, raspberries and 
cranberries) is caused by anthocyanins 
which are very important in preventing 
carcinogenesis and mutagenesis [21]. Also, 
red fruit (such as raspberries, cherries, 
strawberries) are rich in antioxidants such 
as lycopene and anthocyanins, which 
reduce the risk of several types of cancer 
[17]. 
Secondly, colours have important 
physiological properties. Thus, colours 
which are in the red area of the colour 
spectrum, such as orange and yellow, tend 
to make consumer think of warmth and 
energy. Colours which are in the blue side 
of the colour spectrum such as blue, purple 
and green are often described as calm, cool 
but sometimes they induce feelings of 
sadness or indifference. [22]  
Last, but not at least, colour interferes with 
judgments of flavour identification and 
influences the pleasantness and 
acceptability of foods [23]   
 
2. Matherials and methods 
 
The main objective of this survey is to 
identify the messages that fruit colour 
convey to consumers.  The basic tool in 
this survey is the use of a questionnaire 
which reflects the objectives set out above. 
The questionnaire consists of simple 
questions, arranged in a logical order, 
which attempted to discover the main 
characteristics of local consumers, 
focusing on certain statements regarding 
respondents’ perception of fruit. 

Participants were 81 (19 male, 62 female), 
in the age range 18–40 years (mean 22.37 
years). Participants were recruited from the 
students of the Faculty of Food 
Engineering, Stefan cel Mare University of 
Suceava, Romania, in April 2014.  
Focus group session (FGS) [24] and 
repertory grid method (RGM) [25-27] 
are used in this study in order to establish 
the features of fruit which are relevant to 
fruit consumers and to determine what 
fruits colour may affect fruits consumers’ 
perception. 
The fruit brought into discussion by the 
questionnaire are chosen among fruit 
frecvently purchased from the Romanian 
supermarkets or fruit markets, as follows: 
apples, pears, bananas, oranges, grapes, 
cherries, strawberries, berries, plums and 
kiwi fruit.  
A focus group interview is a qualitative 
research tool designed to get the 
perceptions of consumers [28]. Conducted 
by a researcher who introduces the topic, 
the focus group interview consists in 
discussions which start with general 
questions and continues with the more 
specific ones. 
The repertory grid method is used to study 
consumers’ beliefs concerning colour 
influence on the perception of different 
types of fruit. 
Statistical analysis is conducted to process 
the interpretation of results obtained by 
questionnaire. The analysis is based on 
principal component analysis (PCA) and 
hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) of a set 
of opinion questions. The data regarding 
the acceptance of the fruit under 
investigation are evaluated using variance 
analysis (ANOVA), followed by the test of 
averages (Tukey, p -values < 0.05). 
Statistical analysis is performed using the 
program XLSTAT™ (Trial version 
2014.3.04, Addinsoft©, U.S.A.) and Data 
Analisys in MS Excel 2010. 
 
 



Food and Environment Safety - Journal of Faculty of Food Engineering, Ştefan cel Mare University - Suceava 
Volume XIII, Issue 3  – 2014 

Cristina-Elena HREȚCANU, Alice – Iuliana ROȘU, Statistical studies on consumer’s  perception of fruit, 
Food and Environment Safety, Volume XIII, Issue 3 – 2014, pag. 228 – 237 
 
 

230

3. Results and discussion 
 
In the survey, participants are firstly asked 
to report information on demographics and 
purchasing fruit habits. 

Therefore, respondents are asked about 
their height (m) and weight (kg) to 
determine the Body Mass Index (BMI). 
The results are given in figure 1.  
 
 

 

 
Fig. 1. Body Mass Index (BMI) for respondents 

 

 
Using BMI categories, we have found out 
that 16.05% of respondents are 
underweight (i.e. BMI index   is less than 
18.5), 65.43% of respondents have normal 
weight (BMI is between 18.5 and 24.9), 
16.05% of respondents are overweight 
(BMI is between 25 and 29.9) and 2.47% 
of respondents are in the first grade of 
obesity (BMI is between 30 and 34.99).  
The focus group interview aims at object 
questions regarding fruit consumption 
habits. The results of the questions: “Are 
you a frequent fruit consumer? How often 
do you eat fruit?” are given in the fig. 2.  
One can easily observe that 60.5% of 
respondents consume fruit several times a 
week. 
 
 

 
 

Fig. 2 The frequncy of fruit consumption 
 
The results of the question “Where do you 
generally purchase fruit from?” are given 
in the fig. 3.  
 



Food and Environment Safety - Journal of Faculty of Food Engineering, Ştefan cel Mare University - Suceava 
Volume XIII, Issue 3  – 2014 

Cristina-Elena HREȚCANU, Alice – Iuliana ROȘU, Statistical studies on consumer’s  perception of fruit, 
Food and Environment Safety, Volume XIII, Issue 3 – 2014, pag. 228 – 237 
 
 

231

 
 

Fig. 3 Locations where respondents generally 
purchase fruit from 

 
 
One can remark that about 49.38% prefer 
to purchase fruit from markets and 
supermarkets. The results of the question 
“What is the main criterion you choose a 

certain type of fruit?” are given in the fig. 
4.  
From fig. 4(a) one can remark that the 
main reason for which consumers choose a 
certain type of fruit is its content rich in 
vitamins. In terms of why consumers 
would choose fresh fruit, one can notice 
that among the top preferences on the 
variety of fruit are apples, followed by 
grapes and berries. The values are very 
close in terms of the fruit variety  
preference, not only for the first three 
classes (apples, grapes and berries), but 
also for other fruit set in the questionnaire.  
From fig. 4(b) one can remark the biplot 
graphic based on principal component 
analysis (PCA) for the most important 
factors (F1 and F2) show inter-unit 
distances among units as well as display 
variances and correlations of the variables 
aimed at [30]. 

 
(a)      (b) 

Fig. 4  (a). The main consumers’ reasons to choose a fruit (b). PCA for these reasons 
 
The variation of the parameters studied 
implies the existence of two factors and the 
percentage of variability represented by the 
first two factors is high (77.86 %). The 
first factor (F1) explains 49.06 % of the 
total variance with significant parameters 
“rich in vitamins” and “rich in nutrients”.  

 
The second factor (F2) explains 28.8 % of 
the total variance with significant 
parameters “rich in minerals” and “rich in 
antioxidants”.  
The results of the question “How do you 
like to eat the following fruit?” are given in 
the fig. 5.   



Food and Environment Safety - Journal of Faculty of Food Engineering, Ştefan cel Mare University - Suceava 
Volume XIII, Issue 3  – 2014 

Cristina-Elena HREȚCANU, Alice – Iuliana ROȘU, Statistical studies on consumer’s  perception of fruit, 
Food and Environment Safety, Volume XIII, Issue 3 – 2014, pag. 228 – 237 
 
 

232

 

 
        (a)      (b) 

Fig. 5 (a). The form consumers prefer to eat fruit (b). PCA for these consumers’ preferences 
 
From fig. 5(a) we remark that 53.5% of 
consumers surveyed prefer to eat fresh 
fruit. From fig. 5(b) one can remark the 
biplot graphic for the most important 
factors. The variation of the parameters 
studied implies the existence of 2 factors 
and the percentage of variability 
represented by the first two factors is high 
(76.58 %). The first factor (F1) explains 

42.8 % of the total variance with 
significant parameter “fresh fruit”. The 
second factor (F2) explains 33.79 % of the 
total variance with significant parameters 
“passed fruits” and “compotes”. 
The results of the question “What colours 
do you associate with the fruit presented?” 
are given in the fig. 6.   

 

 
        (a)      (b) 

Fig. 6 (a). The colour associated with fruit (b). PCA for associatins of colours to fruits 



Food and Environment Safety - Journal of Faculty of Food Engineering, Ştefan cel Mare University - Suceava 
Volume XIII, Issue 3  – 2014 

Cristina-Elena HREȚCANU, Alice – Iuliana ROȘU, Statistical studies on consumer’s  perception of fruit, 
Food and Environment Safety, Volume XIII, Issue 3 – 2014, pag. 228 – 237 
 
 

233

From fig.6 (a) we remark that yellow is the 
most popular colour of fruit (21.30%), 
followed by red (18.3%) and green 
(18.08%). From fig. 6 (b) one can remark 
the biplot graphic based on principal 
component analysis (PCA) for the most 
important factors (F1 and F2). The 
variation of the parameters studied implies 
the existence of 2 factors and the 
percentage of variability represented by the 
first two factors is medium (55.33 %). The 
first factor (F1) explains 34.51 % of the 
total variance with significant parameters 
“purple” and “blue”. The second factor 
(F2) explains 20.82 % of the total variance 
with significant parameters “orange” and 
“red”.The question “How much do you like 
this fruit?” was rated on a Likert scale, 
marked with 5 descriptors, where the 

quantifications of descriptors are  the 
following: “dislike much”  was quantified 
with 1 point,  “dislike moderately” with  2 
points,  “neither like nor dislike” with  3 
points, “like moderately” with  4 points, 
and “like very much”  with  5 points.  
The average of scores given by consumers 
regarding the palatability of every fruit is 
presented in the fig. 7. Data sets are 
evaluated using standard descriptive 
statistics (average, standard deviation) and 
one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). 
We have observed that strawberries, 
cherries, grapes, oranges and berries are 
consumers’ favourite fruit. Significant 
differences between individual samples are 
determined using ANOVA (p-value < 
0.05).  

 

 
 

Fig. 7 Mean values of  consumers’ responses to quantification of fruit palatability   
Means with common superscripts did not differ significantly (p-value< 0.05). 

 
As regards palability of fruit, we remark 
that three groups of fruit can be formed: 
the first one contains strawberry, cherries, 
grapes, oranges and berries which obtained 
scores between 4.48 poins (nearby “like 
very much” ) and 4.17 (nearby “like 
moderately”), the second group contains 
cherries, grapes, oranges,berries, bananas, 

apples, kiwi and pears which obtained 
scores between  4.23 (nearby “like 
moderately”) and 3.72 points, and the last 
one which contains apples, kiwi,  pears and 
plums which obtained scores between  
3.98 (nearby “like moderately”)  and 3.49 
points. 



Food and Environment Safety - Journal of Faculty of Food Engineering, Ştefan cel Mare University - Suceava 
Volume XIII, Issue 3  – 2014 

Cristina-Elena HREȚCANU, Alice – Iuliana ROȘU, Statistical studies on consumer’s  perception of fruit, 
Food and Environment Safety, Volume XIII, Issue 3 – 2014, pag. 228 – 237 
 
 

234

 One can remark from fig. 8 that the 
variation of the parameters studied implies 
the existence of 2 factors and the 
percentage of variability represented by the 
first two factors is very high (92.61 %). 
The first factor (F1) explains 88.87 % of 

the total variance and the second factor 
(F2) explains 3.74%.  All the fruit under 
investigation can be seen as significant 
parameters of the first factor F1, while for 
the second factor F2, the significat factors 
are “apples” and “strawberries”. 

 

 
 

Fig. 8 PCA for consumers’ responses to fruit palatability  
 

In the following statement respondents are 
asked to complete a word association task 
as a useful qualitative methodology 
commonly used in psychology and 
sociology [30]. Requirement results of the 
task “Assign words refreshing, exotic, 
seasonal, grown in our area, fresh, healthy 
with the fruit: apples, pears, bananas, 
oranges, grapes, cherries, strawberries, 
berries, plums and kiwi fruit” are given in 
the fig. 9.  Most respondents replied that 
they consume fruit because they are 
healthy, fresh and grown in our area.  
From fig. 9(a) we remark the number of 
word associations with the fruit discussed 

above. All fruit types are considered as 
being healthy and fresh. Apples, pears, 
grapes, cherries, strawberries, berries and 
plums are regarded as seasonal and  grown 
in our area fruit, whereas bananas, oranges 
and kiwi are considered exotic fruit. 
In order to group the fruit sharing similar 
features of proposed words, a hierarchical 
cluster analysis (HCA) is performed and 
the resulting dendrograms are shown in the 
fig. 9(b). Three groups have been 
identified:  the first group (exotic fruit), the 
second group (refreshing, fresh and 
healthy fruit) and the third group (seasonal 
and grown in our area fruit).  

 



Food and Environment Safety - Journal of Faculty of Food Engineering, Ştefan cel Mare University - Suceava 
Volume XIII, Issue 3  – 2014 

Cristina-Elena HREȚCANU, Alice – Iuliana ROȘU, Statistical studies on consumer’s  perception of fruit, 
Food and Environment Safety, Volume XIII, Issue 3 – 2014, pag. 228 – 237 
 
 

235

 
        (a)      (b) 

Fig. 9  (a) Results of word association task (b). Hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) for word association 
Words: refreshing, exotic, seasonal, grown in our area, fresh, healthy 

Fruit: apples, pears, bananas, oranges, grapes, cherries, strawberries, berries, plums and kiwi fruit 
 

 
The results of the question “What aspects 
do you like most of the following fruit?” 
are given in the fig. 10 where the numbers 

of responses regarding the aspects of fruit 
sensorial analysis (taste, odour, flavour, 
texture and colour) are represented.   

 

 
        (a)      (b) 

Fig.10 (a) Profile of consumers’ perception of sensory analysis  (b). PCA of consumers’ perception    
 
From fig.10 (a) we remark that taste is the 
most appreciated sensory characteristic of 
fruit for all the fruit taken into 

consideration, except for oranges which 
are appreciated first of all for their odour.  



Food and Environment Safety - Journal of Faculty of Food Engineering, Ştefan cel Mare University - Suceava 
Volume XIII, Issue 3  – 2014 

Cristina-Elena HREȚCANU, Alice – Iuliana ROȘU, Statistical studies on consumer’s  perception of fruit, 
Food and Environment Safety, Volume XIII, Issue 3 – 2014, pag. 228 – 237 
 
 

236

From fig. 10 (b) one can remark the 
variation of the parameters studied which 
implies the existence of 2 factors and the 
percentage of variability represented by the 
first two factors is medium (67.88%). The 
first factor (F1) explains 42.69 % of the 
total variance with significant parameters 
“texture”, „colour”, „freshness flavour”and 
“taste”. The second factor (F2) explains 
25.19 % of the total variance with 
significant parameters “odour” and “taste”. 
4. Conclusion 
 
In conclusion we can remark the following 
aspects of fruit consumption: most 
respondents consume fruit several times a 
week; about 50% of them prefer to 
purchase fruit from markets and 
supermarkets; the main reason for which 
consumers choose a certain type of  fruit is 
its content  rich in vitamins; more than 
50% of the consumers surveyed prefer to 
eat fresh fruit; yellow, red and green are 
the most popular fruit colours; 
strawberries, cherries, grapes, oranges and 
berries are the most appreciated fruit for 
their taste; respondents consume especially 
healthy, fresh and grown in our area fruit 
and taste is the most appreciated fruit 
sensory characteristic for all the fruit 
brought into discussion, except for oranges 
which are appreciated mainly for their 
odour. 

 
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Food and Environment Safety - Journal of Faculty of Food Engineering, Ştefan cel Mare University - Suceava 
Volume XIII, Issue 3  – 2014 

Cristina-Elena HREȚCANU, Alice – Iuliana ROȘU, Statistical studies on consumer’s  perception of fruit, 
Food and Environment Safety, Volume XIII, Issue 3 – 2014, pag. 228 – 237 
 
 

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