Children and taste

By investigating the development of taste perception, preferences and food choices among children, the formation of food habits can be better understood. Such knowledge will provide important insights for the food industry and promote the development of healthy food that children choose, eat and like.

Objective

The main objective of this project is to establish research-based knowledge on the mechanisms of taste development in children, in the perspective of increasing the consumption of healthy foods based on Norwegian ingredients or products.

The framework and the development of the project will be based on a longitudinal study focusing on basic taste acceptance and food habits among children. The gained knowledge will be combined with several experiments exploring the importance of and the interaction between the different sensory modalities.

Age-specific methods for collection of information will be developed in parallel with these activities and a special attention will be given to sorting and conjoint methodologies.

Finally, a practical taste-guide will be developed, including both literature-based knowledge and findings from this project. This guide will be written in Norwegian and the main target group will be the Norwegian industry and relevant authorities. Further dissemination and communication of results will be done through presentations and publications in national and international forum, establishment of a Food & Child network and organization of open seminars.

The consortium for this project will be composed of Nofima (project leader), University of Oslo, INRA and six national industrial partners.