From May 8th to 10th, 2024, the global fruit and vegetable supply chain gathered at the MACFRUT trade fair at the Rimini Expo Centre in Italy. MACFRUT, considered the most international agrifood event in Italy, featured the BreedingValue project prominently. BreedingValue had its own exhibition booth, showcasing project activities and results to key industry stakeholders. 
Visitors to MACFRUT had the chance to taste some of the best strawberry cultivars as part of a consumer study conducted by the Italian Institute of BioEconomy (CNR-IBE), a BreedingValue partner. The Marche Polytechnic University (UPM) provided the strawberry cultivars, which were evaluated in a guided consumer test during the fair.
The consumer test was a comprehensive evaluation of 5 different strawberry varieties: LAURETTA, AN16,53,54, AN16,38,57, DINA, and ROMINA. The test involved both tasting and visual evaluation. They were asked to rate the overall liking of the sample and select the attributes that best described the sample under evaluation using a Check All That Apply (CATA) questionnaire. The same CATA questionnaire was used to identify the attributes that best described the ideal consumer strawberry at the end of both phases. In the tasting phase, among the varieties, ROMINA recorded the highest value in overall liking. The attributes “sweet”, “strawberry flavor”, “juicy”, and “soft” were the most cited for this variety, describing the main drivers related to liking. In the visual phase, LAURETTA and AN16,53,54 showed the highest value in overall liking, with “dark red color”, “bright”, “big fruit”, and “regular shape” being the main attributes driving consumer appreciation.
Source: BreedingValue - Read the full article.
