Food Quality and Preference 88 (2021) 104083 Available online 18 September 2020 0950-3293/© 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Application of the CATA methodology with children: Qualitative approach on ballot development and product characterization of innovative products C´ elia Rocha a, b, 1 , Jos´ e Carlos Ribeiro a, b, 1 , Rui Costa Lima b , Catarina Prista c , Anabela Raymundo c , Maria Carlota Vaz Patto d , Luís Miguel Cunha a, * a GreenUPorto-Sustainable Agrifood Production Research Centre, DGAOT, Faculty of Sciences, University of Porto, Campus de Vair˜ ao, Rua da Agr´ aria, 747, 4485-646 Vila do Conde, Portugal b Sense Test, Lda, Rua Zeferino Costa, 341, 4400-345 Vila Nova de Gaia, Portugal c LEAF, Linking Landscape, Environment, Agriculture and Food, Instituto Superior de Agronomia, Universidade de Lisboa, Tapada da Ajuda, 1349-017 Lisboa, Portugal d Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biol´ ogica Ant´ onio Xavier, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Av. da República, 2780-157 Oeiras, Portugal A R T I C L E INFO Keywords: Check-all-that-apply Children Fermented-grass pea Food neophobia Innovative food Sensory evaluation ABSTRACT There is an increasing importance of the role of children and adolescents in the food market and to successfully develop food products intended for them, it is necessary to apply proper sensory evaluation methodologies. Although children can execute traditional methods for food liking and preference evaluation, traditional sensory descriptive methods may not be suitable for them and it is necessary to assess their ability to perform novel sensory profling methods. Thus, this study aimed to assess children’s acceptance of an innovative food product – cookies incorporating fermented grass pea (Lathyrus sativus) four – and their ability to describe a sensory profle using a Check-All-That-Apply (CATA) approach. Two different types of cookies (salty and sweet) were developed, differing in the level of substitution of wheat four by fermented grass pea four (between 0 and 40%). The cookies were evaluated by two sensory panels of 60 children (8–12 years), who assessed the overall liking using a 7-point facial hedonic scale and the sensory profle of the samples using a CATA ballot with 21 sensory terms previously developed through focus groups with children. Children showed the ability to discriminate the different samples with the hedonic scale and according to their sensory profle. Results revealed that the focus- group with children is an adequate way to generate CATA ballots and that the CATA approach is adequate to evaluate how children discriminate the sensory profle of food products. Furthermore, the food neophobia level of the children negatively impacted their acceptance of the food products. 1. Introduction Children and adolescents are groups of consumers presenting an increasing importance in the food market, having a great infuence in the purchase of food products, either through direct infuence on their parents’ purchase decisions or even by buying the products themselves (Laureati & Pagliarini, 2018; Laureati, Pagliarini, Toschi, & Monteleone, 2015; Popper & Kroll, 2011). It is therefore essential that food manu- facturers optimize the products intended for children and adolescents, by matching the sensory expectations of these particular consumers. Involving children in product development can also play a signifcant role in reducing obesity and malnutrition through a better understand- ing of the main processes infuencing the acquisition of eating patterns (WHO, 2012). Refecting this, most studies published in the 21st century about consumer perception and sensory analysis with young consumers have dealt with healthy eating habits (Laureati et al., 2015). Childhood obesity is one of the most serious public-health crisis of the 21st century, and children’s eating habits are major factors in the development of these diseases (Lobstein, Baur, & Uauy, 2004). The unhealthy food habits of children and adolescents are related to several risk factors such as marketing of foods rich in fat, sugar and salt (Kelly et al., 2010) and individual food preferences (Birch, 1999). Abbreviations: CATA, check-all-that-apply; CFNS, child food neophobia scale. * Corresponding author at: GreenUPorto/DGAOT, Faculty of Sciences, University of Porto, Campus Agr´ ario de Vair˜ ao, Rua da Agr´ aria, 747, 4485-646, Vila do Conde, Portugal. E-mail address: lmcunha@fc.up.pt (L.M. Cunha). 1 Equal contribution. Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Food Quality and Preference journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/foodqual https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodqual.2020.104083 Received 16 January 2020; Received in revised form 12 September 2020; Accepted 13 September 2020