Linking perception of health‐promoting food attributes to tangible product characteristics

The aim of this paper is to link the denotation of healthy and health‐related consumer terms of traditional Dutch meal components to characteristics, ingredients and affective aspects of food products.

A total of 344 respondents completed a questionnaire with propositions about product perception and health opinions. Distinct meal components of a traditional Dutch meal were chosen to make the research results applicable in product development.

A total of four clusters of consumers emerged: with an unconventional definition of health; with no interest in health; feeling healthy; and having health problems, with sample percentages of 21, 10, 50 and 18, respectively.

The study provides insight in the transformation (selection and formulation) of consumers' terminology related to health into attributes, ingredients and affective aspects of products for groups of consumers with a different definition of health.