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a r t i c l e i n f o
a b s t r a c t
Article history:
Received 16 June 2013
Received in revised form
6 October 2015
Accepted 11 October 2015
Available online 22 October 2015
Young people snack and their snacking habits are not always healthy. We address the questions whether
it is possible to develop a new snack product that adolescents will nd attractive, even though it is based
on ingredients as healthy as fruits and vegetables, and we argue that developing such a product requires
an interdisciplinary effort where researchers with backgrounds in psychology, anthropology, media
science, philosophy, sensory science and food science join forces. We present the COOL SNACKS project,
where such a blend of competences was used rst to obtain thorough insight into young people's
snacking behaviour and then to develop and test new, healthier snacking solutions. These new snacking
solutions were tested and found to be favourably accepted by young people. The paper therefore provides a proof of principle that the development of snacks that are both healthy and attractive to adolescents is possible if based on an interdisciplinary, concerted effort.
2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
Snacking, dened as food consumed between the three main
meals (de Graaf, 2006), is an important part of the daily life of
adolescents. Snacks are among the rst food products that adolescents buy with their own money for consumption outside a
family context (Brown, McIlveen, & Strugnell, 2000; Nicklaus,
Boggio, Chabanet, & Issanchou, 2004). Often snacks have a high
content of saturated fat, salt and rened sugar, and the public
debate suggests that adolescents tend to eat too much unhealthy
food resulting in negative consequences for public health such as
obesity and lifestyle-related diseases (Christensen, 2003; Fagt et al.,
2004). Public concern has given rise to numerous initiatives, mostly
using informational and educational tools, which aim at encouraging people to choose healthier alternatives. However, there is
* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: klg@mgmt.au.dk (K.G. Grunert).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tifs.2015.10.009
0924-2244/ 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
K.G. Grunert et al. / Trends in Food Science & Technology 47 (2016) 82e92
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K.G. Grunert et al. / Trends in Food Science & Technology 47 (2016) 82e92
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Fig. 2. Adolescents' snack choice frequency (%) based on 21 snack products available on the Danish market. Modied from Mielby, Edelenbos, et al., 2012.
K.G. Grunert et al. / Trends in Food Science & Technology 47 (2016) 82e92
85
Fig. 3. PCA plot of adolescents' snack choice frequency among 21 snack products available on the Danish market and their relation with background variables. Modied from
Mielby, Edelenbos, et al., 2012.
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K.G. Grunert et al. / Trends in Food Science & Technology 47 (2016) 82e92
13 snack ideas and concepts. One of the ideas was The Shaker e a
beaker with premixed fresh fruit or vegetables with a free choice of
sprinkle which had to be shaken into the beaker before consumption. Another idea was Two-in-one e a combination of something
healthy and something unhealthy and self-indulgent such as apple
slices combined with a dip. Three of the snack ideas contained
solely fruit, either fresh or frozen. One idea contained stir-fried
vegetables, and the remaining nine snack ideas combined fresh
fruit and vegetables with one or more food components such as
bread, dip and/or sprinkle. Five ideas and concepts involved a
personal touch in the composition of the snack which satised
adolescents' demand for individuality and also socializing potential
for sharing the snack with peers. This work yielded a set of recommendations providing for the key requirements for COOL
SNACKS (codes in parentheses refer to the key requirements):
Satisfying a broad target group of adolescents with various demands: Combo snack solutions consisting of various snack
products (P3, R2, R3, C1)
Individuality and interaction: Personal touch and nish in the
composition (R3, C1)
Unstructured meal settings in a social peer-group context: Social
events including sharing experience (R1, R2, R3, C1)
Balanced energy density and healthiness: Various snack products including bread, dip and sprinkle (P1, P2, P3)
Attractiveness in a novel and familiar way: Various tastes and
textures (P1, C1)
Fresh and ready to eat on the go (R1, R2)
Constant novelty to maintain loyalty (C1)
87
From the idea and concept generation process and the set of
recommendations, the researchers formed one single COOL SNACK
concept with eight variety options. The concept consisted of
different options regarding the type and number of components.
The components included: fresh fruit, fresh vegetables, bread, dip
and sprinkle. It was understood that fresh fruit and vegetables must
be used and that all components were ready-to-eat. The fresh fruit
and vegetable components were chosen to balance energy density
and healthiness while the bread component was chosen to full
Fig. 4. Two variations of the COOL SNACK concept tested in the concept test.
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Table 1
Translation of adolescents' key requirements into new snacking solutions.
Adolescents' key requirements
Preferences
P1. Healthy and unhealthy
P2. Gender specic preferences in taste and energy density
P3. Recognizable variations in tastes and textures
Routines
R1. Supplement to lunch box
R2. Temporal structure
Competencies
C1. Continuous negotiation and appropriation
solution features (Table 1) and then further into prototype components and elements. A total of 19 elements were developed
(Fig. 5) considering technological constraints and practical implications in terms of production, supply chain and display. The fresh
fruit component consisted of four elements (white grapes, pineapple mini sticks, apple wedges, apple wedges and blueberries);
the fresh vegetable component consisted of four elements (mini
cucumbers, red bell pepper chunks, orange and white mini carrots,
orange mini carrots); the bread component consisted of four elements (mini whole wheat loaf with rye, mini whole wheat loaf with
dried fruit, rye bread sticks with pizza avouring, bread sticks with
sour cream and onion avouring); the dip component of three elements (sour cream-based holiday dip, mild salsa, caramel); and
the sprinkle component of four elements (liquorice, chopped, unsalted peanuts, bacon crisps, pop rocks).
All elements were ready-to-eat to full the requirements of a
temporal structure in snacking, and fresh fruit and vegetables had a
shelf-life of at least 5 days at 5 C. The elements were consumable
on-the-go or could be taken on-the-go as they were individually
packaged in transparent, easy to open and re-sealable Minigrip
zipper pouches tted in a lunchbox-type carton. Also dips and
sprinkles could be taken on-the-go as they came in transparent
beakers with re-sealable transparent lids.
Overall, the elements varied in healthiness, taste and texture,
familiarity, energy content per serving, size of serving and number
of pieces in a serving (Table 2). The fresh fruit and vegetables and
mini loaves were considered healthy elements, as they lived up to
standards of the Danish keyhole, which is a health logo sponsored
by the Nordic governments. Grapes, pineapples, apples, blueberries, mini cucumbers, bell peppers and mini carrots were chosen
to cover different tastes, textures and familiarities (Table 2). Girls'
preferences for berries were met by mixing blueberries with apples. Mini bunches of grapes and mini cucumbers and carrots were
introduced to increase the shelf-life as compared to the fresh-cut
versions. Orange and white mini carrots were mixed to increase
novelty.
All fresh fruit, vegetable and bread elements could be eaten
directly or shared after breaking. The viscosity of the dips at 5 C
and the lumping of the sprinkle were technological constraints that
made us reject several elements in the prototype development
phase. To meet boys' requirement for a savoury taste, bread sticks,
salsa and bacon crisps were included in the COOL SNACK solution.
The bread sticks were spiced with potato crisp avourings and
produced exclusively for the COOL SNACKS project. Caramel dip
and liquorice and Pop Rocks sprinkle were included to meet girls'
requirement for sweet taste. Overall, the dip and sprinkle elements
were introduced to full adolescents' requirements for taste variety
and familiarity and to increase the appropriation or coolness of the
prototypes.
The four prototypes were prepared for testing in self-mix and
pre-mix versions. In the self-mix version, all elements in Table 2
were used. For the pre-mix version, the selected elements are
shown in Table 2. In both versions, snack elements were gathered in
a printed six-point glued carton box with a window foil and
separate inserts to full the practical requirement of keeping elements together at purchase, during consumption and on-the-go.
The box was the result of a joint effort by an advertising agency
and the research group. Green was the main colour, avoiding blue
(boys) and pink (girls) suggesting a specic gender. Pictures of
teenage boys and girls drawn in a style suggesting references to
cartoons and digital game plays were used. This teenage style was
chosen because younger children identify upwards in age (Marcia,
2001; Popper & Kroll, 2005).
4. New snacking solutions in context
4.1. Prototype testing in schools
Fig. 5. Nineteen snacking elements placed in a display cooler for self-mixing in the
prototype test at schools.
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Table 2
Description of snacking components and elements for new snacking solutions.
Snacking components and elements
Fruit
White grapes
Pineapple mini sticks
Apple wedges
Apple wedges & blueberries
Vegetables
Mini cucumber
Red bell pepper slices
Orange & white mini carrots
Orange mini carrots
Bread
Mini whole wheat loaf w rye
Mini whole wheat loaf w dried fruit
Rye bread sticks w pizza avouring
Bread sticks w sour cream & onion avouring
Dips
Sour cream based Holiday
Mild salsa
Caramel
Sprinkle
Liquorice
Chopped, unsalted peanuts
Bacon crisps
Pop rocks
Energy of snacking solution, KJ/snack
X
X
X
X
X
X
694
682
971
1540
Texture
Sweet
Sweet
Sweet
Sweet
Soft
Juicy
Crisp
Crisp/soft
Familiar
Familiar
Familiar
Novel/familiar
235
186
173
155
90
80
90
80
20
8
5
11
Sweet
Sweet
Sweet
Juicy/crisp
Crisp
Crisp
Crisp
Familiar
50
Familiar
89
Novel/familiar 162
Familiarity
162
110
70
100
100
4
7
7
7
Savoury
Sweet
Savoury
Savoury
Soft
Soft
Crisp
Crisp
Familiar
Novel/familiar
Novel
Novel
686
700
328
332
70
70
20
20
1
1
25
25
Savoury Soft
Savoury Soft
Sweet
Soft
Familiar
Familiar
Familiar
192
40
280
20
20
20
20 ml
20 ml
20 ml
Sweet
Savoury
Savoury
Sweet
Novel
Familiar
Novel
Novel
119
177
151
113
7
7
7
7
Many
Many
Many
Many
Crisp
Crisp
Crisp
Crisp
90
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Third, liking after tasting is at the same level for both testing
conditions, indicating that the loss of liking due to pre-mixing of
certain snacking elements is, compared to self-mixing, limited.
Finally, we see that liking after tasting is at par with or exceeds the
level of liking based on visual inspection, suggesting that the expectations generated by visual inspection are met in the actual
tasting experience.
There were some slight gender differences. In the self-mix situation, boys had higher visual liking than girls (mean diff .27,
t 2.10, p .03), whereas girls had higher buying intention (mean
diff .37, t 2.06, p .04). There was no difference in liking after
tasting. In the pre-mix condition, there was no difference between
boys and girls in visual liking or liking after tasting, but girls had a
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