A substantial proportion of African population is food-insecure, of low socioeconomic background. While much effort is made to address cost, safety and nutritional quality of food for economically vulnerable consumers, research specifically focusing on food acceptance and preference is seriously lacking. Here, we present examples of recently published studies to demonstrate the value of food research involving African consumer testing. A systematic search of the literature was performed and 44 studies reviewed. Gaps in research on the topics and approaches used by researchers when conducting consumer tests with these consumers were identified. The review concludes with a discussion about modifications of test methodologies that may be required when conducting consumer tests with low-income, food-insecure consumers. The consumer studies with undernourished or vulnerable individuals have clearly demonstrated the importance of doing such studies to formulate foods adapted for these target markets. These studies are important to fight undernutrition.

非洲人口的很大一部分没有粮食安全，社会经济背景较低。尽管为经济上脆弱的消费者付出了很多努力来解决食品的成本，安全性和营养质量问题，但仍然严重缺乏专门针对食品接受和偏好的研究。在这里，我们以最近发表的研究为例，以证明涉及非洲消费者测试的食品研究的价值。对文献进行了系统的检索，并对44项研究进行了回顾。确定了与研究人员在与这些消费者进行消费者测试时所使用的主题和方法的研究差距。审查的最后讨论了对低收入，粮食不安全的消费者进行消费者测试时可能需要的测试方法的修改。对营养不良或脆弱人群的消费者研究清楚地表明了进行此类研究以配制适合这些目标市场的食品的重要性。这些研究对于对抗营养不良非常重要。