IJFS#1131_bozza Ital. J. Food Sci., vol. 30, 2018 - 809 SURVEY CONSUMER PERSPECTIVE REGARDING DRIED TROPICAL FRUITS IN TURKEY G. CINAR Department of Agricultural Economics, Faculty of Agriculture, Aydın Adnan Menderes University, Turkey E-mail address: gokhan.cinar@adu.edu.tr ABSTRACT The purposes of this study are to evaluate the tropical fruit (banana, kiwi, pineapple) preferences of consumers in Turkey and their willingness to pay and to assess the factors that affect this willingness to pay. In this context, tropical fruit products were presented in packages of 50 grams to 386 individuals who had never tasted these products before, and after the products had been tasted, surveys were administered. The findings revealed that dried banana has sensory issues related to hardness and taste and that dried kiwi has sensory issues related to taste and odour. The results show that improving the taste characteristics and increasing the emphasis on health while promoting the products could have a positive impact on increasing the demand for these products in Turkey. Keywords: consumers, dried fruits, sensory analysis, willingness to pay Ital. J. Food Sci., vol. 30, 2018 - 810 1. INTRODUCTION In Turkey, fruit is a widely cultivated product. However, demand for banana, pineapple and kiwi, which are tropical fruits, is met through imports because of climatic conditions and land constraints in Turkey. In 2015, Turkey had a total of 5,896,156 USD of pineapple imports, 108,334,990 USD of banana imports and 2,945,173 USD of kiwi imports. Many of these imports are from countries such as Costa Rica, Ecuador, Chile, Guatemala and Panama (ANONYMOUS, 2016). Importing from other countries increases the risk that these products will be decayed. The protections applied to remove this risk, however, make it difficult to maintain quality standards that differ from country to country. These issues can be resolved by drying the products. Drying essentially means removing the moisture from the product with the help of the sun or mechanical devices (CHANG et al., 2016). This process reduces packaging, shipping and transportation costs for the product due to the decrease in its weight and mass and reduces the measures needed for product protection (OMOLOLA et al., 2017). On the other hand, dried fruits contain more antioxidants, fibre and vitamins than do fresh fruits (BENNETT et al., 2011). This information shows that dried fruit consumed regularly and in the correct amount can reduce risk for various health factors such as glycaemia and cardiovascular diseases (JESZKA-SKOWRON et al., 2017). Although dried fruits have advantages related to both consumer health and commercial risk, few studies have focused on consumer preferences for these products. Accordingly, JESIONKOWSKA et al. (2009) determined the factors affecting the consumption preferences of Dutch, French and Polish consumers who expressed that they consumed dried fruit and fruit products at least once a month. Similar studies have been conducted on Dutch, French (SIJTSEMA et al., 2012) and Chinese (WU, 2017) consumers. In these studies, it was argued that emphasis on health can play an especially important role in increasing the consumption of these products. ALPHONCE et al., (2015) assessed consumer preference in Europe and the willingness of consumers to pay extra for tropical dried fruit produced in Africa. The organic status of dried fruit and fair trade factors have been shown to influence consumer willingness to pay extra for dried fruit. Various fruits such as dried apricots, figs and grapes, which are extensively cultivated in Turkey, are consumed frequently and are well recognized by consumers. Therefore, the Turkish consumer is familiar with dried fruit products and the process of their production. However, in Turkey, dried kiwi, banana and tropical fruits such as pineapple have recently started to be sold. Currently, these products are occasionally sold in private stores, in a limited number of supermarkets and online. Therefore, consumers in Turkey do not know much about these tropical dried fruits, and many of them have never tasted these products. Specifically, approximately 75-90% of the food products that are newly introduced into a market may fail in the first few years after being launched (TALAVERA et al., 2017). To understand and improve market success for new products, consumer analysis is needed (CHEN et al., 2013; DE ANDRADE et al., 2017). However, consumers’ decision to eat fruits and derivative products is the result of the interaction between a large variety of factors (SABBE et al., 2009). Studies show that the foremost factor governing consumer preferences is the fruit’s internal features such as taste, odour, colour, and firmness (POLLARD et al., 2002; HARKER et al., 2008). Another important factor is the importance that the consumer gives to health and their lifestyle (POLLARD et al., 2001). Considering health, it is indicated that the probability of purchasing fruit is affected positively when health-related information or the possible benefits of the product are noted on the label (SILVESTRI et al., 2018). According to SABBE et al., (2008), consumers’ socio-demographic structures such as gender and habitat are Ital. J. Food Sci., vol. 30, 2018 - 811 related to their willingness to purchase tropical fruits. In addition, while consumers can be affected by a wide range of external product features such as brand, price, convenience, availability, and packaging in food selection, they pay more attention to price, especially when buying fruit (SABBE et al., 2009). Overall, apart from consumers’ socio-demographic features, the price of the product and the health-consciousness and lifestyle of the consumer are important considerations in fruit consumption. For this reason, these matters were the primary focus of this study. Realizing consumers’ sentimental expectations, leads to consumer satisfaction and increases the marketing of the product (GRUNERT, 2002). HALAGARDA and SUVALA (2018) argue that referring to consumers’ experiences on the current products increases the level of significance of the research outcomes. MIGLIORE et al., (2017) has emphasized that not recognizing and being unfamiliar with tropical fruits is one obstacle to purchasing. A product overview was written and a taste test administered in order to overcome these problems as well as to appraise these products, which are new to the market from the consumers’ point of view. The fundamental hypothesis underlying this study is that the willingness to buy a new fruit product can change depending on an individual’s sensitivity towards health and the internal features of the product, as well as the demographic and socio-economic features of consumers. That information contributes to the choice of the target market. In addition, another hypothesis formed claims that sensory evaluation tests presented to the consumers helps them to evaluate the characteristics of the products. That information, if exists, contributes to the development of the sensual features of the product. The last hypothesis indicates that a new product has a perceptual position compared to the various derivative products. That information helps to determining possible competitor products. In this context, the main purpose of this study is to determine the willingness of consumers who have never tasted dried tropical fruits (kiwi, banana, pineapple) to pay for these products. In addition to this objective, other objectives of my study are as follows: • Determining the amount of money that consumers, who want to buy dried tropical fruits, are willing to pay; • Revealing the factors that affect willingness to pay for dried tropical fruits; • Analysing the degree of preference for and deficiencies of dried tropical fruits depending on their sensory properties; and • Determining the consumption preference hierarchy for dried tropical fruits compared to their other derivative products. Given the assumption that dried tropical fruit products are quite new for many consumers, it is important to understand the different factors that affect consumers’ willingness to purchase and consumption behaviour in terms of developing promotion policies. Few studies have examined consumers’ preferences for dried fruits, and none of these studies focused on the Turkish market. Through an extensive literature search and application of the different methods used in this study, better marketing strategies can be developed for the decision makers and operators in the dried tropical fruit industry. Ital. J. Food Sci., vol. 30, 2018 - 812 2. MATERIALS AND METHODS 2.1. Overview This study was conducted in Izmir, which is located in the western part of Turkey and is the biggest city in the area. Participants who had not tasted dried tropical fruits before were given banana, kiwi, and pineapple in packs of 50 grams to taste free of charge. The participants were then asked to rate the taste, colour, appearance, hardness, and odour of these products in points. Then, a questionnaire was administered to the participants, and the consumers' willingness to purchase these products and the factors that influence this willingness were determined. Finally, the participants' preference for different types of these products (fresh fruit, mineral water, fruit milk, fruit yogurt) and the ranking of the derivative products in the consumer mind were determined based on the information gathered from these same questionnaires. SPSS 21 (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) and R package programs were used for the statistical analysis in this study. The materials and methods used in this study at presented in detail below. 2.2. Sample selection The location of the survey was İzmir Province, as it contains the largest city in the Aegean region and the third largest city in Turkey. The total population of İzmir Province is 4,223,545. This province, according to code TR31, represents a region of its own. In the study, the number of consumers surveyed was determined by the following sample formula (NEWBOLD, 1995): n = Np(1− p) (N −1)σP 2 + p(1− p) where n is the sample size, N is the population size (4,223,545), and p is the prediction rate (0.5 for the maximum sample size) and the probability level confidence interval (95% confidence interval, 𝜎p: 0.02551 for 0.05 margin of error from the equation of 1.96𝜎p: 0.05). Accordingly, the number of consumers randomly selected for the face-to-face survey was 385. Questionnaires were administered to a total of 386 consumers, of which there were 193 females and 193 males; thus, the numbers of male and female consumers were equal. The main constraint of this study is about the sample collected from a limited part of Turkish society. The sample in this study may not be a representative of all segments of the Turkey population. The research can be expanded with sample size acquired from different regions and cultures. 2.3. Sensory evaluations In this study, dried tropical fruits (kiwi, banana, pineapple) were evaluated by consumers who had not previously tasted such products before. Participants were selected on a volunteer basis. The products were presented to the participants free of charge as dried kiwi, banana, and pineapple in packs of 50 grams. A little time was given, and water was provided in order to minimize residual effects between tasting the different products. The participants were then asked to rate the taste, odour, appearance, firmness, and colour of each product objectively on a 9-point Likert-type scale (1. Dislike extremely, 5. Neither like Ital. J. Food Sci., vol. 30, 2018 - 813 nor dislike, 9. Like extremely). On this scale, for example, for firmness, 1 defines the expression “the product is extremely firm”, while 5 defines the expression “the product is neither firm nor soft”, and 9 defines the expression “the product is an ideal firmness”. Although this evaluation method, which makes use of previous studies (ZHAO et al., 2007; BARRETT et al., 2010), is generally used by expert panellists, it can also be used by consumers (WORCH et al., 2010). 2.4. Conditional valuation method and lower bound meaning for payment In this study, the conditional evaluation method was applied to determine consumer willingness to pay for dried tropical fruits. For this method, a hypothetical market is created for any goods or services that cannot be sold on the market, the benefits that can be gained from such goods or services are explained, and how much consumers are willing to pay for the benefits that they receive in consuming these goods or services is determined (CARSON, 2000; UZMAY and CINAR, 2017). In this research, dried kiwi, banana and pineapple were first tasted by consumers in complementary packages of 50 grams. These consumers had not previously tasted these products before. After this step, consumers were informed about the products, specifically, the products' health advantages. Then, consumers were asked separately about kiwi, banana and pineapple and whether they would like to buy these products. If the response was positive, the final price that they were willing to pay was determined. The prices obtained from each consumer were converted to the consumer's general willingness to pay based on the lower bound method presented below (BLAINE et al., 2003). Lower Bound Method (LBM) = (P00∏ )+ (Pii∏ i=1 k ∑ −Pi−1) where Π0 is the cumulative percentage of willingness to pay, P0 is the lowest payment boundary, and K is the number of boundaries. 2.5. Logistic regression In this study, the dual logistic regression method is used to determine the factors that affect consumer willingness to pay for dried fruit. In the logistic regression model, the dependent variable is discrete, and the estimated probability values range from 0 to 1. A general logistic regression model is expressed below (GUJARATI, 1995). Pi = F(zi)= F(α +βXi)= )()( 1 1 1 1 iXzi ee βα+−− + = + where Pi=i is the probability that the ith individual chooses a specific option, F is the cumulative probability function, α is the constant coefficient, β is the estimation parameter for each independent variable, and X is the independent variable. In this study, consumer dried fruit consumption status (no/yes) was the dependent variable in the logistic regression model. Models are designed separately for the three separate products. In the models, the dependent variables are consumers who are not willing to pay for the dried products. The independent variables are education level of the consumers, understanding of a healthy life, gender, income, age and body mass index. The response obtained from the expression "I think I am a consumer who understands a healthy life" represented the consumers' understanding that a healthy life is included in the response model. For this, Ital. J. Food Sci., vol. 30, 2018 - 814 before receiving their answer, it was expressed to the consumers that health-consciousness involves living a healthy life, eating healthy, exercising, sleeping well, and being in touch with nature frequently. Accordingly, the consumers were asked to evaluate themselves objectively. In addition to this process, the study also used hypothesis tests such as Mann- Whitney U, Friedman, and Kendall's W. 2.6. Fuzzy pairwise comparison method and multidimensional scaling analysis In this study, after the products were tasted by the consumers, questionnaires were administered. The sections included in the questionnaire were in the order of the consumption preferences among fresh fruit, fruit yoghurt, plain fruit, fruit milk, fruit soda and dried tropical fruits. In this section, the fuzzy pairwise comparison method was used. The steps of the method can be summarized as follows (TANAKA, 1997). Pairwise comparisons were presented to indicate individual preferences. The total distance in a comparison was equal to 1. If GKH=0.5, then K≈H; if GKH>0.5, then K>H; and if GKH<0.5, then K0.05). The third highest preference for consumers was to consume the products as fruit milk (0.401). The preference for consuming the product as fruit milk was statistically significantly higher in females than in males (p<0.05). The fourth highest preference for consumers was to consume the products as fruit yoghurt (0.366). The preference for consuming the product as fruit yoghurt was statistically significantly higher in females than in males (p<0.05). The lowest preference for consumers was to consume the products dried (0.203). The preference for consuming the product as dried was statistically significantly higher for females than for males (p<0.05). However, in Table 5, consumption preference order by gender is also presented. When the table is examined, the preference order of the male's products was as follows: fresh (0.715), in mineral water (0.467), in fruit milk (0.350), in fruit yoghurt (0.310) and dried (0.178). For females, the order of preferences was as follows: fresh (0.587), in fruit milk (0.452), in fruit yoghurt (0.423), in mineral water (0.410) and dried (0.228). On the other hand, males preferred fruit yoghurt and fruit milk, while females were more indifferent about making similar selections as mineral water, fruit yoghurt and fruit milk. Ital. J. Food Sci., vol. 30, 2018 - 822 Table 5. Fuzzy pairwise comparison findings. Variable Gender Mean Preference Mann-Whitney U Asymp. Sig. General mean** Std. Deviation General preference Fresh fruits Woman 0.587 1 13924.00 0.000 0.651 0.285 1 Male 0.715 1 Mineral water Woman 0.410 4 12943.00 0.080 0.438 0.235 2 Male 0.467 2 Fruit milk Woman 0.452 2 14235.00 0.000 0.401 0.253 3 Male 0.350 3 Fruit yoghurt Woman 0.423 3 13502.00 0.000 0.366 0.211 4 Male 0.310 4 Dried fruits Woman 0.228 5 16046.00 0.018 0.203 0.200 5 Male 0.178 5 **Significant by Friedman test for p<0.01; Kendall’s W = 0.267. Ital. J. Food Sci., vol. 30, 2018 - 823 In this research, multi-dimensional scaling analysis was used to create a perception map for consumers for different types of tropical fruits (kiwi, banana, pineapple). This analysis included products seen as substitutes in the market and their differentiation from one another (KINNEAR and TAYLOR, 1996). According to multidimensional scale findings, the stress value was 0.01786, and the R2 value was 0.99863. These values indicated that the findings could be interpreted. Figure 2 presents a consumer perception map generated from fuzzy comparison data. Accordingly, consumer perceptions differed according to the different selling processes of the fruits. Only fruit milk and fruit yoghurt were given the same weight by the consumers, while fresh fruit was placed in another dimension with dried fruit and with mineral water. According to the findings of the positioning matrix, the most distant perceived products were fruit soda and dried fruit, with a distance of 3.970, and the closest perceived products were fruit yoghurt and fruit milk, with a distance of 0.787. Dried fruit was the closest product to the fresh fruit, with a distance of 2.206. However, the distance between dried fruit and fruit milk was 2.841, and the distance between dried fruit and fruit yoghurt was 2.844. Hence, since fresh fruit was the closest product to dried fruit, it may be a rival for it. However, dimensional distinctions and overall distance values indicated that consumers perceived dried tropical fruits in a different position compared to other products. Figure 2. Two-dimensional positioning of the general perception for the products. 4. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS This study was conducted to evaluate the factors affecting Turkish consumer preferences for dried tropical fruits (banana, kiwi, pineapple) and the willingness of these consumers to pay for these products. Significant results have emerged from this research. Ital. J. Food Sci., vol. 30, 2018 - 824 First, the results of the sensory evaluation method showed that there were issues with dried bananas related to taste and hardness and that the issues for dried kiwi were related to odour and taste. The sensory properties of pineapple were better than those of the other products. In ALPHONCE et al., (2015)’s study of European consumers, the average firmness of dried banana was defined as being below average, with 4 points, while its taste was defined as being average, with approximately 5 points. Both the firmness and taste scores of pineapple were just above average (5 points). In this study of Turkish consumers, however, the firmness and taste scores of dried banana were less than those in ALPHONCE et al., (2015)’s study, with 1.6 and 2.1 points, respectively. The average taste score given by Turkish consumers to pineapple was 6.7, and the average firmness score was 7.5. These scores were above average. European consumers gave the highest scores to dried mango, pineapple, and banana, in order. In this study, Turkish consumers preferred dried pineapple, kiwi, and banana, in order. In previous studies, dried kiwi was not evaluated sensually by consumers. Generally, the dried banana taste and hardness issues and the average scores for dried pineapple agree with the study of European consumers (ALPHONCE et al., 2015). The maturity of the fruit before drying is the most important factor affecting fruit taste and flavour because the maturity level of the fruit is related to the sugar level. Very mature fruits contain high levels of concentrated sugar. During the drying process, this sugar becomes more apparent, and the dried fruit can be very sweet. Conversely, this highly concentrated sugar will lead to a worse taste after drying. On the other hand, excessive drying can harden the fruit. The presence of protections against decay may cause odour problems. Therefore, it is important to determine the level of moisture that does not disturb the drying style or the product taste (MANZUNGU and MACHIRIDZA, 2001). The products had equal and acceptable features in terms of appearance (shape and size) and colour. This information suggests that suppliers should focus on improving poor sensory features rather than the appearance of the products. The second important result of the survey is related to the willingness to pay for the products. It has been emphasized in previous studies that sensory attributes of food products are effective in procurement decisions (TOPCU et al., 2015). Specifically, taste is one of the most important factors affecting the purchase preferences for both dried products (ENDIYANI and SALIMA, 2017) and fruits (KAMENIDOU et al., 2002, PANICO et al., 2011). The results of this study also confirmed these data. In this study, 37.8% of the consumers did not want to buy dried banana, 44.8% did not want to buy dried kiwi, and 38.8% did not want to buy dried pineapple. Many of the consumers who did not want to buy these products cited sensory characteristics, especially taste. In addition, the research results showed that the willingness to pay was 18.2 kg/TL for dried banana, 26.0 kg/TL for dried kiwi and 39.4 kg/TL for dried pineapple. The lowest willingness to pay was for banana. The market sales price for these products in Turkey is 36 kg/TL. Accordingly, consumers were willing to purchase only dried pineapple for a price above market value. Therefore, the market prices and sensory characteristics of dried banana and kiwi show that they are very unlikely to be consumed frequently by consumers. The third important result of the study relates to the socio-demographic characteristics of the consumers, which affect the willingness to pay for products. The results showed that income had a positive effect on the willingness to pay for these products. These data overlap with a study conducted on consumers in Zimbabwe relating their preferences for dried fruit (MANZUNGU and MACHIRIDZA, 2001). In addition, health consciousness has a significant impact on the willingness to consume a product. This result agrees with research on Chinese consumer preferences for dried mango (WU, 2017). Additionally, female consumers were more willing to purchase these products than were males. The education level was particularly influential on the consumption of kiwi and pineapple. Studies examining consumption habits of Turkish consumers have indicated that gender, Ital. J. Food Sci., vol. 30, 2018 - 825 education level and income level are influential in food purchasing decisions. In addition, high-income, highly educated female consumers are more sensitive to food safety (GOKTOLGA et al, 2006). Recently, increasing income levels resulting from economic development in Turkey and increasing education levels, combined with the need for a balanced diet, have created a new consumer market. In this context, the socio- demographic characteristics of the consumer group that wants to purchase dried tropical fruits may facilitate the desire of the target consumer for these products. The fourth important result of the study is the creation of a hierarchy of preferences for different states of the products. Different studies on dried products have revealed that products are preferred in their fresh state as opposed to their dried state (SIJTSEMA et al, 2012, OWUREKU-ASARE et al, 2017). The belief that fresh fruit has more vitamins causes French consumers to consume more of the product when it is fresh (JESIONKOWSKA et al, 2007). However, this situation may differ from country to country (JESIONKOWSKA et al, 2008). The results of this study support the idea that consumers prefer fresh fruit, as Turkish consumers preferred fresh products from among all the different types of fruit products. However, consumers primarily preferred products in mineral water, then fruit milk and then fruit yoghurt. The differences in the consumption preferences and rankings of these products according to gender have been determined. Specifically, females were more indifferent about whether the product was in mineral water, fruit yoghurt or fruit milk. The averages for dried tropical fruits differed from the other products. In addition, consumers positioned dried tropical fruits differently than other forms of the same fruits. This result suggests that tropical dried fruit is unique. Therefore, the consumer may not make comparisons with other products while purchasing these products. This information can be used for developing advertising strategies. In general, the results indicate that sensory issues related to these products need to be addressed. In addition, when determining the target market, more attention needs to be given to consumers with higher income and education levels and to consumers that pay more attention to health; in addition, the presentation of dried tropical fruit products specifically to women may increase the likelihood of their consumption. Moreover, it may be necessary to emphasize a new product rather than identifying a competitive market for the promotion of products. When the results of the research are holistically assessed, they can help to develop better tropical dried fruit products and more effective marketing tools. Finally, this research was limited to a specific region. Thus, future researchers may be advised to focus on examining whether consumers of different cultures have an impact on the willingness to pay for dried tropical fruit products. REFERENCES Alphonce R., Temu A. and Almli V.L. 2015. European consumer preference for African dried fruits. British Food Journal. 117(7):1886-1902. Anonymous (2003a) TURKSTAT, 2003, Available at www.tuik.gov.tr/HbPrint.do?id=21508 (accessed Dec 28, 2016). Anonymous (2003b) TURKSTAT, Available at www.tuik.gov.tr/PreTablo.do?alt_id=1012 (accessed Dec 25, 2016). Anonymous (2016). TURKSTAT, Available at biruni.tuik.gov.tr/disticaretapp/disticaret.zul?param1=3¶m 2=4&sitcrev=4&isicrev=0&sayac=11607 (accessed Dec 20, 2016). Barrett D.M., Beaulieu J.C. and Shewfelt R. 2010. Color, flavor, texture, and nutritional quality of fresh-cut fruits and vegetables: desirable levels, instrumental and sensory measurement, and the effects of processing. Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition 50(5):369-389. Bennett L.E., Jegasothy H., Konczak I., Frank D., Sudharmarajan S. and Clingeleffer P.R. 2011. Total polyphenolics and anti-oxidant properties of selected dried fruits and relationships to drying conditions. Journal of Functional Foods 3(2):115-124. Ital. J. Food Sci., vol. 30, 2018 - 826 Blaine W.T., Lichtkoppler F.R. and Standbro R. 2003. An assessment of residents' willingness to pay for green space and farmland preservation conservation easements using the contingent valuation method (CVM). Journal of Extension 41(4):1-4. Carson R.T. 2000. Contingent valuation: A user’s guide. Environmental Science and Technology 34(8):1413-1418. Chang S.K., Alasalvar C. and Shahidi F. 2016. Review of dried fruits: Phytochemicals, antioxidant efficacies, and health benefits. Journal of Functional Foods 21:113-132. Chen Q., Anders S. and An H. 2013. Measuring consumer resistance to a new food technology: A choice experiment in meat packaging. Food Quality and Preference 28(2):419-428. De Andrade J.C., Nalério E.S. Giongo C., De Barcellos M.D., Ares G. and Deliza R. 2017. Consumer perception of dry- cured sheep meat products: Influence of process parameters under different evoked contexts. Meat Science 130:30-37. Endiyani E. and Salima R. 2017. Consumer Preferences for Products Processed Dried Red Chillies (A Case Study: Bogor Region). Jurnal Agropolitan 1(1):26-35. Goktolga Z.G., Bal S.G. and Karkacier, O. 2006. Factors effecting primary choice of consumers in food purchasing. The Turkey case. Food Control 17(11):884-889. Grunert K.G. 2002. Current issues in the understanding of consumer food choice. Trends in Food Science & Technology 13(8):275-285. Gujarati D.N. 1995. Basic Econometrics. 3rd Edition, Mc Graw Hill Inc, NY, USA. Gunden C. and Thomas T. 2012. Assessing consumer attitudes towards fresh fruit and vegetable attributes. Journal of Food Agriculture & Environment 10(2):85-88. Halagarda M. and Suwała G. 2018. Sensory optimisation in new food product development: A case study of polish apple juice. Italian Journal of Food Science 30(2):317-335. Harker F.R., Amos R.L., White A., Petley M.B. and Wohlers M. 2008. Flavor differences in heterogeneous foods can be detected using repeated measures of consumer preferences. Journal of Sensory Studies 23(1):52-64. Jesionkowska K., Konopacka D., Plocharski W., Sijtsema S.J. and Zimmermann K.L. 2007. What do Polish and Dutch consumers think about dried fruit and products with them creative group discussions as a mean of recognition consumers' perception. Polish Journal of Natural Science 4:169-175. Jesionkowska K., Sijtsema, S., Simoneaux, R., Konopacka, D. and Plocharski, W. 2008. Preferences and consumption of dried fruit and dried fruit products among Dutch, French and Polish consumers. Journal of Fruit and Ornamental Plant Research 16:261-274. Jesionkowska K., Sijtsema S.J., Konopacka D. and Symoneaux R. 2009. Dried fruit and its functional properties from a consumer’s point of view. The Journal of Horticultural Science and Biotechnology 84(6):85-88. Jeszka-Skowron M., Zgoła-Grześkowiak A., Stanisz E. and Waśkiewicz A. 2017. Potential health benefits and quality of dried fruits: Goji fruits, cranberries and raisins. Food Chemistry 221:228-236. Kamenidou I., Tzimitra-Kalogianni I., Zotos Y. and Mattas K. 2002. Household purchasing and consumption behaviour towards processed peach products. New Medit. 1(1):45-49. Kinnear T.C. and Taylor J.R. 1996. Marketing Research: An Applied Approach, McGraw Hill, New York, 635-640. Kruskal J.B. 1964. Multidimensional scaling by optimizing goodness of fit to a nonmetric hypothesis. Psychometrica 29(1):1-27. Manzungu E. and Machiridza R. 2001. A survey of the distribution of and consumer preference for dried fruits and vegetables in the Harare-Chitungwiza metropolis. Journal of Applied Science in Southern Africa 7(1):23-41. Migliore G., Farina V., Tinervia S. Matranga G. and Schifani G. 2017. Consumer interest towards tropical fruit: factors affecting avocado fruit consumption in Italy. Agricultural and Food Economics 5(1):5-24. Newbold P. 1995. Statistics for business and economics. Prentice-Hall International, New Jersey. Omolola A.O., Jideani A.I. and Kapila P.F. 2017. Quality properties of fruits as affected by drying operation. Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition 57(1):95-108. Ital. J. Food Sci., vol. 30, 2018 - 827 Owureku‐Asare M., Ambrose R.P., Oduro I., Tortoe C. and Saalia, F.K. 2017. Consumer knowledge, preference, and perceived quality of dried tomato products in Ghana. Food Science & Nutrition 5(3):617-624. Panico T., Del Giudice T., Cicia G. and Cembalo L. 2011. Consumption of organic strawberries in Italy: demand analysis. New Medit. 10(3):11-16. Pollard J., Greenwood D., Kirk S. and Cade J. 2001. Lifestyle factors affecting fruit and vegetable consumption in the UK Women's Cohort Study. Appetite 37(1):71-79. Pollard J., Kirk S.F.L. and Cade J. E. 2002. Factors affecting food choice in relation to fruit and vegetable intake: A review. Nutrition Research Reviews 15: 373-387. Sabbe S., Verbeke W. and Van Damme P. 2008. Familiarity and purchasing intention of Belgian consumers for fresh and processed tropical fruit products. British food journal 110(8):805-818. Sabbe S., Verbeke W. and Van Damme P. 2009. Perceived motives, barriers and role of labeling information on tropical fruit consumption: exploratory findings. Journal of Food Products Marketing 15(2):119-138. Sijtsema S.J., Jesionkowska K., Symoneaux R., Konopacka D. and Snoek H. 2012. Perceptions of the health and convenience characteristics of fresh and dried fruits. Food Science and Technology 49(2):275-281. Silvestri C., Cirilli M., Zecchini M., Muleo R. and Ruggieri A. 2018. Consumer acceptance of the new red-fleshed apple variety. Journal of Food Products Marketing 24(1):1-21. Talavera M. and Chambers IV E. 2017. Using sensory sciences help products succeed. British Food Journal 119(10):2130- 2144. Tanaka K. 1997. An Introduction to Fuzzy Logic for Practical Applications. Springer Verlag, New York. Topcu Y., Uzundumlu A.S. and Baran D. 2015. How sensory and hedonic quality attributes affect fresh red meat consumption decision of Turkish consumers?. Italian Journal of Food Science 27(2):181-190. Uzmay A. and Cinar G. 2017. The likelihood of sheep meat consumption in Turkey. Italian Journal of Food Science 29(2):209-221. Worch T., Lê S. and Punter P. 2010. How reliable are the consumers? Comparison of sensory profiles from consumers and experts. Food Quality and Preference 21(3):309-318. Wu D. 2017. Consumer Preference on Intrinsic Quality Attributes of Dried Mango Among Chinese Consumers. D. Thesis. Food Technology, China. Zhao X., Chambers E., Matta Z., Loughin T.M. and Carey E.E. 2007. Consumer sensory analysis of organically and conventionally grown vegetables. Journal of Food Science 72(2):87-91. Paper Received January 17, 2018 Accepted June 25, 2018