Abstract Consumers’ perceptions of the quality of fresh produce at the point of purchase and point of consumption play an important role in decisions about what to buy, eat and discard. Apple images were used to assess the extent that defects (bruising, splitting, and crushing) attracted consumers’ visual attention as measured using eye tracking and related to choices to buy and to eat the apples. For an internal defect (internal browning and cavities) that is usually only evident after biting into the apples, images were used to determine whether consumers would discard a portion or all of the apple and to assess their perceived quality and sensory expectations using a RATA question. Eye-tracking demonstrated that damage to the exterior of apples and internal browning rapidly attracted consumers’ visual attention. Choice of apples with external defects at both point-of-purchase and point-of-consumption was low and ranging from 0% to 7% and 3.4 to 15.1%, respectively. Consumer decisions to discard apples with internal browning was nuanced in that (1) small amounts of browning did not lead to disposal, (2) when the relative area of browning reached 8.2% then 50% of consumers would throw away a portion of each apple, and (3) when browning was more severe (34.6% relative area) then 50% of the consumers indicated that they would throw away the whole apple. The presence of internal browning lowered consumers’ perceived quality and sensory expectations, as evidenced by the increase in RATA ratings of negative terms (e.g., disgusting, rotten, bruised, mealy) and the lowered RATA ratings for the terms natural and healthy. From a perspective of reducing food waste, the results stress that strategies are needed to increase value perception of defective fruits to increase likely purchase and consumption.

中文翻译：

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买、吃还是丢弃？以苹果为例，探讨水果质量感知和食物浪费

摘要 消费者在购买点和消费点对新鲜农产品质量的看法在决定购买、食用和丢弃什么方面起着重要作用。苹果图像被用来评估缺陷（瘀伤、裂开和压碎）吸引消费者视觉注意力的程度，通过眼动追踪测量以及与购买和食用苹果的选择相关。对于通常仅在咬入苹果后才明显的内部缺陷（内部褐变和空洞），图像被用于确定消费者是否会丢弃部分或全部苹果，并使用 RATA 问题评估他们的感知质量和感官期望. 眼动追踪表明，苹果外观的损坏和内部褐变迅速引起了消费者的视觉注意。在购买点和消费点选择有外部缺陷的苹果的比例很低，分别为 0% 至 7% 和 3.4% 至 15.1%。消费者丢弃内部褐变苹果的决定有细微差别，因为 (1) 少量褐变不会导致处理，(2) 当褐变的相对面积达到 8.2% 时，50% 的消费者会扔掉每个苹果的一部分, (3) 当褐变更严重时（34.6% 的相对面积），50% 的消费者表示他们会扔掉整个苹果。内部褐变的存在降低了消费者的感知质量和感官期望，正如 RATA 对负面术语（例如，恶心、腐烂、瘀伤、粉状）的评级增加以及对自然和健康术语的 RATA 评级降低所证明的那样。从减少食物浪费的角度来看，