Tasting with your Eyes

“For thousands of years human beings have relied on visual cues to help determine what is edible. The color of fruit suggests whether it is ripe, the color of meat whether it is rancid.”
-Excerpt taken from Eric Schlosser's book Fast Food Nation

According to nutritionists and the nutrition panel, naturally color-vibrant foods serve an important role in keeping us healthy and even reducing cancer risks. Antioxidants and phytochemicals, which are found in fruits in vegetables, have been noted to significantly reduce cancer risks. Beta carotine and lycopene can help protect cells from damage.

But color may have a greater influence on our perception than that. In a study published in the Journal of Consumer Research entitled, “Taste Perception: More than Meets the Tongue,” it showed that though brand name influenced people's preferences for one cup of juice over another, labeling one cup a premium brand and the other an inexpensive store brand had no effect on perceptions of taste. What did make a difference was the tint of the orange juice.

Given two cups of the same Tropicana orange juice, with one cup darkened with food coloring, the members of the researcher's sample group perceived differences in taste that did not exist. However, when given two cups of orange juice that were the same color, with one cup sweetened with sugar, the same people failed to perceive taste differences.

As the authors put it: "Color dominated taste."

Eric Schlosser talks about another color experiment in his book Fast Food Nation. “During one experiment in the early 1970s people were served an oddly tinted meal of steak and french fries that appeared normal beneath colored lights. Everyone thought the meal tasted fine until the lighting was changed. Once it became apparent that the steak was actually blue and the fries were green, some people became ill.”

This is why Sensory Research is so much more than simply taste testing, and why it is vital for any successful food business.