Differences in liking of traditional salami: The effect of local consumer familiarity and relation with the manufacturing process

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to assess what effect the consumer familiarity has on liking of Italian traditional salamis. The authors ascertained the category of consumers that has more influence on the quality judgment of the salami and investigated on the differences in the sensory attributes perception between consumers with different familiarity. Design/methodology/approach – Eight samples of both Napoli and Mugnano del Cardinale salami were investigated. The study consisted of three parts: first, technical questionnaire submitted to the producers; second, descriptive analysis performed by 12 trained judges, and third, hedonic tests with different consumer categories: low familiar and high familiar consumers, trained assessors, and salami producers. Findings – Manufacturing processes were quite heterogeneous, those differences affected the sensory profiles of both salamis. Hedonic results indicate that consumer familiarity had a significant effect on overall liking of Napoli salami. In particular, both low familiar consumers and producers give the same judgment to all the products. High familiar consumers and especially trained assessors were more selective than the other ones. Differences in the sensory attributes perception between the consumer’ categories were found. Practical implications – Europe has a great number of traditional foods as a result its long history, diversity of cultures, and different climates. These foods represent a very important part of the local economy. Thus, the research effort is contributing to better understanding of the manufacturing process of two Italian traditional salamis and to better addressing consumer needs in relation to traditional foods. Originality/value – The experimental procedure used in this study for consumer tests is very original and proved to be useful to obtain interesting results. The proposed research is contributing to enhance the competitiveness of those traditional foods.