Acta Hortic. 1141. ISHS 2016. DOI 10.17660/ActaHortic.2016.1141.41 Proc. III Int. Conf. on Fresh‐Cut Produce: Maintaining Quality and Safety Ed.: M.I. Cantwell 327 Influence of an evoked pleasant consumption context on consumers’ hedonic evaluation for minimally processed cactus pear (Opuntia ficus-indica) fruit G. Sortino a , A. Allegra, P. Inglese, S. Chironi and M. Ingrassia Department of Agricultural and Forest Sciences, Università degli Studi di Palermo, Italy. Abstract Awareness of the need to consider a consumption context when measuring the consumer's hedonic evaluation of a food product led researchers to investigate differences among responses given by consumers in different contexts. Previous studies measured the effects of evoking a consumption context, by using photographs or a written scenario, on hedonic evaluations of consumers for food products. This study investigated the influence of evoking a consumption context on hedonic evaluation of minimally processed cactus pear (Opuntia ficus-indica) fruit, using pictures and memories of pleasant personal experiences. A hedonic scale method for measuring food preferences was used. Hedonic evaluation of minimally processed cactus pear fruit with sensory differences by a sample of consumers (n=150) when measured in the evoked context ‘when having a pleasant personal experience’ was compared with that of another sample (n=150) measured outside context. Furthermore, sensory evaluation of ‘experts’ (n=20) was accomplished. Differences in rating sensory attributes were found among the three samples. To test hedonic differences between the two samples of consumers, data sets were analyzed using ANOVA. A significant difference was observed between groups of consumers. Having obtained the rankings of sensory attributes, correlation between consumers’ and experts’ evaluations was measured using Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient. This study highlights that the influence of a positive evoked context on hedonic evaluation of sensory attributes of minimal processed cactus pear may influence consumer's purchasing behavior. Future research will explore the effect of evoking a consumption context comparing different fruit and whether this measure reflects product liking in actual consumption context. Keywords: scenario evoked context, consumer hedonic testing, acceptance testing, context effects, quality parameters INTRODUCTION Lifestyles of modern consumers have been responsible for the current rise in consumption of fresh‐cut fruit (Cefola et al., 2014). Cactus pear (Opuntia ficus-indica) can produce different fruit crops throughout the year, under very different climatic conditions. Recent studies indicate that ready‐to use‐ cactus pear ‘late fruit’, harvested under some particular conditions, manually peeled, and stored at 5°C under passive atmosphere, retains its quality and extends its shelf‐life until 7‐12 days of storage (Allegra et al., 2015a). However, because of the presence of seeds inside the pulp of the fruit, the propensity to consume is limited. A purchase decision consists of different elements: problem recognition, information search, evaluation of alternatives, product choice, and outcome (Zander and Hamm, 2010). Awareness of the need to consider a consumption context when measuring the consumer's hedonic evaluation of a food product led researchers to investigate differences among responses given by consumers in different contexts. Previous studies measured the a E‐mail: giuseppe.sortino@unipa.it