An interview covering the consumers understanding of and attitude towards the TTI indicator will be performed. The survey will determine the effect of prior information on acceptability and willingness towards TTI. Factors that can affect the consumer response and expectations are the information given to the consumer on the food package. Giving different kind of information the various interpretations will be recorded. Studies will be conducted using focus groups, interviews and questionnaires of about 200 people in Sweden and Greece, Ireland and Netherlands (P1, P2, P7, P4, P5). The work will commence with discussing the protocols to be used and which can be applied and standardised across the four countries. These will include comparability and suitability of methods, which will consider questionnaires, telephone interviews, focus groups, street/supermarket interviews and postal questionnaires. Other kind of labelling will be included to serve as benchmarks between countries.

The TTI indicator signal is a gradually change in colour, where one colour indicates good quality and another bad quality of the product. The consumer translates the colour of the TTI indicator into product quality. The perception of the product quality as judged by the TTI signal will be determined. A second correlation will be made between the TTI signal and the consumer perception of product quality by tasting and smelling. Groups representing different consumer segments will evaluate the signal and the product quality of products stored in such a manner that a variation in quality is obtained. This will be reached by collaboration of three partners (P1, P2, P5) and will include sensory profiling of the products and consumer preference testing, comprising 150 consumers per country. The sensory profiling will be performed by a trained sensory panel consisting of about 12 persons in each country (P1, P2, P5). This panel will after training evaluate the sensory product qualities. P7 will provide meat products with defined microbiological status. Regression modelling of the acceptance information on sensory data (preference mapping) provides a means of identifying important sensory attributes for the different consumers. The aim of this task is to correlate the TTI signal with consumer response, and to establish the relationship between consumer interpretation of the TTI signal and perception of important sensory product qualities. P8 will provide TTI indicators.