Comparison between traditional and modern fresh market tomato varieties: sensory evaluations and consumer preference studies in three European countries

Increased consumer complaints about a reduction in flavour quality of fresh tomato varieties have urged sensory quality to become a major breeding objective. In order to improve tomato fruit sensory quality and to diversify this product, a clearer understanding of the factors influencing tomato flavour and consumer preferences is required. Towards this aim, 17 traditional and modern fresh market tomato varieties (belonging to three typologies "Oxheart", "Marmande" and "Round") were selected based on their reputation of good flavour, and different partially overlapping sets were cultivated and evaluated in France, Italy and Spain in the framework of the European TRADITOM project (http://traditom.eu/). Two different growing conditions were tested in France (soilless under greenhouse vs. soil under plastic tunnel) and in Spain (open air vs. soil under greenhouse), while in Italy the products were evaluated at two different ripening stages. In each country fruit quality was assessed at three levels using consensus protocols: objective description of sensory properties by trained panels, consumer preference tests and physico-chemical measurements. For the hedonic tests, after the overall liking (OL), consumers were asked to answer a Check-All-That-Apply (CATA) survey. The results obtained so far highlight a strong genotype effect on consumer OL; while the effect of different growing conditions on OL was either not significant (Spain), or was variety dependent (France). In general, preferences for all consumers were oriented towards a "juicy", "sweet" and "aromatic" product, while "mealy texture" was the descriptor that negatively impacted the assessment of products.