The Psycho-sensorial Value of the Food Products a Provocative Component in Purchase Decision

The psycho-sensorial value is a specific, complex and determinant concept of the food products that is reflected by means of psycho-sensorial properties such as: shape, size, aspect, colour, taste, smell, fragrance, bouquet, density, clarity. The assessment of these properties by the consumers is decisive for the acceptance or the rejection of foods and classifies the products into savoury, or non-savoury, attractive, indifferent, or unattractive. The psycho-sensorial features of food products allow us to make quick assessments of their qualities, but with a high degree of subjectivity among the common consumers and big individual variations, assessments that are highly influenced by the hedonic value of food products. The sensory analysis of foods is part of the modern analytical methods: when correctly and scientifically applied, it allows a real assessment of the quality of these products, evaluation which could not be obtained only by assessing physicochemical and microbiological methods. However, the scientific methods for sensorial assessment have a higher degree of objectivity and are used successfully in industry and trade, in evaluating the qualitative level of foods by authorised and qualified people. Otherwise, the design of the psycho-sensorial value of food products involves tests and sensorial analyses and has as main objective the establishment of concordances among the consumers’ demands and the level of the sensorial characteristics of the products. The present paper aims at underlining the necessity to design the psycho-sensorial value of processed foods, as well as the importance of educating and informing the consumers for a better capacity to get oriented on the market, and implicitly, for a right purchase decision.