5.4 Integrating consumer needs and wants in product development

Food product preference is based on consumer needs and wants. There are a large number of consumer needs and wants, but four important areas to be understood for product development are functional, cultural, sensory and aesthetic. In the past, consumer research and sensory evaluation were two separate areas of research in product development, but today they are combined in an overall analysis of consumers' product preferences (Meiselman, 1994).

Consumer behaviour and food choice are basic research areas for product development. In the product development project, research is focused on identifying and evaluating specific needs, wants, sensory properties, cultural/ social values and aesthetics, so that specific product attributes can be identified in the product concept and used as a guide in product design.