556 Novel food packaging considerable number of consumers fell into the ultra-cautious'category whereas the non-cautious'were in a minority. The study itself tasse Ve consumer acceptance of time-temperature indicators and reflected acceptance of these new devices to the needs these three respondent groups had 26.4.2 Acceptance of oxygen absorbers When asked about the possible benefits of absorbers or emitters, the interviewees(n=21)mentioned that food products retain their good quality longer, which may be especially helpful for small households and those who shop once a week (Mikkola et al., 1997). The absorbers were believed to improve safety by reducing microbial risks and thereby contributing to a decrease in the use of additives in food products. On the negative side, the added components can increase price and produce more waste. People also may eat older food if it keeps a longer time in good condition. Furthermore, the possibility that these absorbers or emitters could contain harmful substances that may be ingested by vulnerable consumer groups, such as older people and children caused concern Acceptance of oxygen absorbers among Finnish consumers was examined with an experimental design. Mikkola et al. (1997)carried out a study where consumers(n=346)were given two types of food products to take home. Sliced rye bread and pizza filled with ham were packed with or without oxygen absorbers. The products were stored at the research institute so that their delivery date was close to the best by date. A trained laboratory panel assessed the samples and gave higher quality points on appearance, flavour and freshness for pizza when it was packed with the absorber than when it contained no absorber, but there was no difference in the assessed quality of sliced rye bread Consumers, however, assessed both products with oxygen absorbers as having higher quality, although the difference between oxygen absorber product and conventional product was small for rye bread. In the trained panel evaluation the samples were blind coded and the panel did not know what the samples were when they tasted them. Consumers, on the other hand received the samples learly labelled and based their assessment on both sensory quality and on information they received. In addition to overall quality, respondents were asked to evaluate whether they were willing to accept the absorbers and buy these products if they were available on the market The oxygen absorber used in the study was a loose sachet enclosed in the ackage and half of the respondents also received an information leaflet that described what the oxygen absorber was, how it functioned and how it could be disposed of (Mikkola et al., 1997). After the demonstration with real food products 72% on average were ready to accept these additional sachets, 23% were unsure and 5% were clearly negative. From those who received the dditional leaflet 76% accepted the oxygen absorber vs. 67% in the no- nformation group Information decreased the number of unsure people among the respondents but had no effect on the size of the negative groupconsiderable number of consumers fell into the ‘ultra-cautious’ category whereas the ‘non-cautious’ were in a minority. The study itself targeted consumer acceptance of time-temperature indicators and reflected the acceptance of these new devices to the needs these three respondent groups had. 26.4.2 Acceptance of oxygen absorbers When asked about the possible benefits of absorbers or emitters, the interviewees (n ˆ 21) mentioned that food products retain their good quality longer, which may be especially helpful for small households and those who shop once a week (Mikkola et al., 1997). The absorbers were believed to improve safety by reducing microbial risks and thereby contributing to a decrease in the use of additives in food products. On the negative side, the added components can increase price and produce more waste. People also may eat older food if it keeps a longer time in good condition. Furthermore, the possibility that these absorbers or emitters could contain harmful substances that may be ingested by vulnerable consumer groups, such as older people and children, caused concern. Acceptance of oxygen absorbers among Finnish consumers was examined with an experimental design. Mikkola et al. (1997) carried out a study where consumers (n ˆ 346) were given two types of food products to take home. Sliced rye bread and pizza filled with ham were packed with or without oxygen absorbers. The products were stored at the research institute so that their delivery date was close to the best by date. A trained laboratory panel assessed the samples and gave higher quality points on appearance, flavour and freshness for pizza when it was packed with the absorber than when it contained no absorber, but there was no difference in the assessed quality of sliced rye bread. Consumers, however, assessed both products with oxygen absorbers as having higher quality, although the difference between oxygen absorber product and conventional product was small for rye bread. In the trained panel evaluation the samples were blind coded and the panel did not know what the samples were when they tasted them. Consumers, on the other hand received the samples clearly labelled and based their assessment on both sensory quality and on information they received. In addition to overall quality, respondents were asked to evaluate whether they were willing to accept the absorbers and buy these products if they were available on the market. The oxygen absorber used in the study was a loose sachet enclosed in the package and half of the respondents also received an information leaflet that described what the oxygen absorber was, how it functioned and how it could be disposed of (Mikkola et al., 1997). After the demonstration with real food products 72% on average were ready to accept these additional sachets, 23% were unsure and 5% were clearly negative. From those who received the additional leaflet 76% accepted the oxygen absorber vs. 67% in the no￾information group. Information decreased the number of unsure people among the respondents but had no effect on the size of the negative group. 556 Novel food packaging techniques