Consumer perception of Cheddar cheese color

The color of Cheddar cheese in the US is influenced by many factors, primarily the amount of annatto added as a colorant. The US FDA is currently reviewing its definition of the term “natural” on food labels, which may result in the use of colorants being restricted in natural cheeses. The objective of this study was to evaluate how consumers perceive Cheddar cheese color to better understand how changes to legislation surrounding colorants in natural Cheddar cheese may affect consumption. We were also interested in determining if a relationship exists between color and other perceived characteristics of Cheddar cheese. Two online surveys on Cheddar cheese color and flavor attributes (n = 1226 and n = 1183, respectively) were conducted, followed by a consumer acceptance test on 6 commercially available Cheddar cheeses (n = 196). Overall, consumers preferred light orange color in Cheddar cheese over dark orange or white Cheddar cheese, but segmentation was observed for Cheddar color preference. Light orange Cheddar and white Cheddar were perceived as approximately equal in terms of “naturalness.” White and light orange Cheddars were perceived as more natural than dark orange Cheddars conceptually and in consumer acceptance testing. White Cheddar was considered most natural by 50.3% of n = 1283 survey participants and 43.4% of n = 196 consumer acceptance test participants, while light orange Cheddar was perceived as most natural by 40.6% and 45.9% of these groups respectively. A bimodal distribution was observed in both the online survey and in consumer acceptance testing for “naturalness” of Cheddar cheese color, with a subset of consumers (31.4% of n = 1183 survey participants and 30.6% of n = 196 consumer testing participants) indicating that white Cheddar was the least natural option. Consumers associated orange color in Cheddar cheese with more “sharp” flavor both in an online survey format and consumer acceptance testing.


INTRODUCTION
Consumer interest in "natural" products has been on the rise since the proliferation of the clean label movement in the early 2000s.The term "natural" has been described as a "75 billion dollar word with no clear definition" as consumers increasingly desire natural foods, but the term "natural" is complex and lacks a clear definition from both a regulatory and consumer standpoint (Chambers et al., 2019).In November 2015, the FDA put out a call for consumer comments on use of the term "natural" for labeling on human food products and received 7,690 comments from consumers and companies by May 2016 (Creswell, 2018).These comments are still under review as the FDA considers appropriate next steps regarding "natural" labels.
This possible change in the definition of "natural" presents a problem for Cheddar cheese manufacturers.Cheddar cheese is one of the largest contributors to the natural cheese category in the United States, with 141.54 million Americans consuming Cheddar cheeses in 2020 (Statista Research Department, 2020).Cheddar cheese is defined by the FDA Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) in section §133.113.At present, the FDA CFR does not address the use of colorants in Cheddar cheese other than stating that coloring may be used as an optional ingredient (Office of the Federal Register, 2021).The traditional orange color of US Cheddar cheeses is due to the addition of a natural colorant.The common coloring agent for Cheddar cheese is an extract from the seeds of the annatto plant (Bixa orellana), commonly referred to as annatto.Annatto consists of 2 carotenoids: bixin and norbixin (Kang et al., 2010).Norbixin is the water-soluble form of annatto used for cheese color and is an "exempt" color additive, a term which refers to colorants from natural sources.Exempt color additives still require FDA approval for use in food products but are exempt from certification provided they are used in amounts consistent with good manufacturing practices and are listed in the ingredient list of the final product (Center for Food Safety and Nutrition, 2017).If the strict definition of natural is enforced by the FDA, Cheddar cheese with added annatto colorant could not be called natural Cheddar cheese.
The FDA standard of identity for Cheddar cheese does not provide any definition regarding the sharpness of Cheddar cheese flavor or its labeling.The assignation of sharpness labels is therefore at the discretion of the manufacturer.Sharpness is not a defined sensory term and instead refers to the presence or absence of distinctive flavors and texture in Cheddar cheese that result from the process of aging.As such, a mild Cheddar label implies a younger cheese and a sharp Cheddar label implies an aged cheese.However, in the absence of a specific time designation such as "aged for 9 months," a sharp or extra sharp label can be assigned to Cheddar cheese of any age.As Cheddar cheeses age, a wide diversification of possible flavor profiles occurs due to the cascade of cheese ripening reactions that can occur (Singh et al., 2003)..
Previous research has examined consumer perception of color in Cheddar cheeses.Wadhwani and McMahon (2011) studied consumer perception of low-fat Cheddar cheeses with varying levels of annatto added as a colorant and found that consumers preferred Cheddars with an intermediate amount of orange coloring, but consumer preference decreased as the color became too orange or too white.The role of color and perceived Cheddar sharpness was not investigated.Speight et al. (2019) evaluated consumer perception of Cheddar cheese shreds, including color.A range of Cheddar cheese colors were represented in their survey using National Cheese Institute (NCI) Cheese Color Standards NCI-1, NCI-6, NCI-8, and NCI-11 (National Cheese Institute, International Dairy Foods Association, Washington DC).Cheddar cheese shred color was one of the most important attributes of Cheddar cheese shreds, behind price and nutrition claims.NCI-6 returned the highest consumer utility and NCI-1 returned the lowest, indicating that consumers preferred a light orange color in Cheddar cheese shreds (Speight et al., 2019).
While previous studies have evaluated consumer preference for Cheddar cheese color, little to no research exists on how consumers perceive the "naturalness" of Cheddar cheese color, or whether perceptual relationships exist between color and flavor attributes.Consumer understanding of Cheddar cheeses sharpness labels and their beliefs surrounding a relationship between color and sharpness have not been assessed.The purpose of this research was to evaluate consumer perception of Cheddar cheese color to understand consumer perception of "naturalness" and cheese color and to understand consumer perception of cheese sharpness and color.

Experimental Overview
Two online surveys using ethnographic questions and Maximum Difference (MaxDiff) scaling were conducted (Figure 1).The surveys were spaced 2 mo apart.Survey 1 was conducted to establish consumer familiarity with attributes of Cheddar cheese, including color, flavor, and sharpness, while the objective of survey 2 was to further explore consumer perception of Cheddar cheese color and sharpness specifically.Following completion of both surveys, descriptive analysis and a consumer acceptance test were conducted using 6 different Cheddar cheeses (white and orange Cheddar, young and aged) to evaluate consumer perception of Cheddar cheese color and the relationship between color and Cheddar cheese flavor intensity (sharpness) (Figure 1).

Participants
All testing was conducted in compliance with North Carolina State University Institutional Review Board (NCSU IRB) regulations.All participants were contacted using an online database of > 10,000 consumers from the greater Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill, NC area maintained by the Sensory Service Center at North Carolina State University (SSC).Consumers who reported that they did not have any food allergies, intolerances, or dietary restrictions, and who purchased and consumed Cheddar cheese could qualify for this study.Additional qualification criteria for the surveys and consumer acceptance tests are subsequently specified.

Online Surveys
Survey 1.The objective of Survey 1 was to establish a baseline of consumer familiarity with attributes of Cheddar cheese, including color, flavor, and sharpness.The online survey was developed using Lighthouse Studio (Sawtooth Software version 9.8.1, Orem, UT).The survey was uploaded to a database maintained by the SSC, which consists of over 10,000 consumers.Participants who were 18 years of age or older were able to enter the survey (n = 1451).Participants who indicated that they purchased Cheddar cheese and were at least somewhat familiar with different colors of Cheddar cheese (n = 1226) completed 2 MaxDiff exercises.Familiarity was measured on a 5-point scale where 1 = completely unfamiliar, 3 = neither familiar nor unfamiliar, and 5 = completely familiar.Attention check questions, such as "please select the color violet from the list below," were included throughout the survey and used to filter out respondents who may have provided low-quality responses.Upon completion of the survey, participants were entered into a raffle for a chance to win one of several gift cards to a local store.
The first MaxDiff exercise consisted of 15 different purchase factors for Cheddar cheese, including both extrinsic qualities such as packaging material and an all-natural label, and intrinsic factors such as flavor and color of the cheese.Respondents were asked to indicate which item was "Most Important" and which item was "Least Important" from a list of attributes.Each respondent completed 10 sets of best-worst questions with 5 items in each set.These questions were asked to evaluate which attributes consumers placed the most importance on when selecting a Cheddar cheese and to gain a better understanding of the role of Cheddar cheese color in purchase decisions.
The second MaxDiff exercise consisted of 11 different Cheddar cheese colors ranging from white to dark orange.Color choices were taken from the National Cheese Institute (NCI) Cheese Color Standard (National Cheese Institute, International Dairy Foods Association, Washington DC).Consumers were asked to select which color was "Most Appealing" and which was "Least Appealing" for Cheddar cheese that they purchased in a series of 8 sets of best-worst questions with 5 color choices per set.This exercise was done to evaluate consumer opinions on a range of possible Cheddar cheese colors.
A series of agree/disagree questions were included at the end of Survey 1 to cross-validate results from earlier survey sections and assess consumer attitudes toward Cheddar cheese characteristics.A 5-point agree/ disagree scale was used where 1 and 2 = disagree, 3 = neither agree nor disagree, and 4 and 5 = agree.In addition, consumers were asked to indicate their purchase preference for Cheddar cheese color using a 5-point scale where 1 = "I strongly prefer to buy orange Cheddar cheese," 3 = "I do not have a preference" and 5 = "I strongly prefer to buy White Cheddar cheese."Survey 2. A second online survey was developed using Lighthouse Studio (Sawtooth Software version 9.8.1, Orem, UT) as a means of cross-validating the results regarding Cheddar cheese color and flavor intensity (sharpness) from Survey 1.This second survey was also uploaded to the Sensory Service Center database of over 10,000 consumers.Participants who were 18 years of age or older were able to enter the survey (n = 1283).Participants who indicated that they purchased Cheddar cheese (n = 1183) completed a series of questions that assessed Cheddar cheese color expectations using the same 11 Cheddar cheese colors implemented in Survey 1. Participants in Survey 2 were first asked to indicate which type of Cheddar cheese (Mild, Medium, Sharp, or Extra Sharp) they purchased most often.Consumers were then asked to indicate which of the 11 colors best represented Cheddar cheeses of different sharpness levels (mild, medium, and sharp), which color best represented Cheddar cheese with the least/most flavor, which color best represented Cheddar cheese that would be the most/least sharp, and which color was the most/least natural.Consumers also answered a series of agreement questions specifically about Cheddar cheese color, including "The color of Cheddar cheese indicates how much flavor the cheese has" and "The color of Cheddar cheese indicates how sharp the cheese is."These exercises were done to further elucidate consumer trends regarding Cheddar cheese color and sharpness observed in Survey 1. Once again, attention check questions were included throughout survey 2 as a data quality check.Upon completion of the survey, participants were entered into a raffle for a chance to win one of several gift cards to a local store.

Evaluation of Cheddar cheeses
Following completion of the 2 surveys, commercially available national or regional brand Cheddar cheeses were screened to select cheeses for consumer testing.Cheeses were evaluated by 2 highly experienced and trained cheese experts (each with >1000 h experience with sensory profiling of Cheddar cheese) to identify cheeses that represented a range of color categories of Cheddar (dark orange, light orange, and white) and flavor profiles (young/mild flavors: mild/medium label and aged flavors: sharp/extra sharp label).A total of 6 commercial Cheddar cheeses (dark orange Cheddar Cheese (aged flavor), dark orange medium label Cheddar Cheese (mild/medium flavor), light orange Cheddar (mild/medium flavor), light orange Cheddar (aged flavor), white Cheddar (mild/medium flavor), and white Cheddar (aged flavor) were selected for consumer testing.Cheeses were provided in duplicate 4.5 kg lots directly from the manufacturer or purchased from grocery stores in the Raleigh, NC (4.5 kg from different lots).These cheeses were selected to represent a range of commercial Cheddar cheese colors and flavor profiles.

Descriptive Analysis.
Seven trained panelists (5 females, 2 males, ages 22-54 y) each with at least 60 h of previous experience with the descriptive analysis of Cheddar cheese flavor evaluated cheeses from each lot in duplicate.An established lexicon for Cheddar cheese (Drake et al., 2001) was applied using a 0 to 15 point universal intensity scale consistent with the Spectrum TM descriptive analysis method (Meilgaard et al., 2007).Each cheese was cut into a 3 cm cube and placed into a lidded 60 mL soufflé cup with a randomly generated 3-digit code and tempered to 15°C.Samples were prepared with overhead lights off to prevent light oxidation.Paper ballots were used for data collection.Each panelist evaluated each lot in duplicate in separate sessions.

Color Assessment.
Each of the 6 cheeses used in consumer testing were evaluated using a hand-held colorimeter to instrumentally assess differences in color (Chroma Meter CR-410; Konica Minolta Sensing; Tokyo, Japan).Colors were assessed using the CIELAB color space where L* indicates lightness and a* and b* are chromaticity coordinates that indicate color direction.a* illustrates where the color reading lies on a red/green axis, while b* indicates where the color reading falls on a yellow/ blue axis.(Konica Minolta, Tokyo, Japan).Measure-ments were taken in triplicate for each cheese and the colorimeter was calibrated before use.Calibration was performed using the white calibration plate provided by Konica Minolta.An observer angle of 10° was used for all measurements.
For color assessment during consumer testing, participants were provided with a printed paper color standard card that displayed 11 Cheddar cheese color chips labeled with numbers 1-11, analogous to the NCI Cheese Color standards (National Cheese Institute, International Dairy Foods Association, Washington DC).The NCI standards utilize the Munsell color system, which uses 3 values (hue, value and chroma) to assign colors to numeric categories (Munsell, Grand Rapids, MI).To most accurately capture the colors used in the NCI standards, Munsell values were converted to RBG values to create a color standard card using Adobe Illustrator (Adobe, San Jose, CA).

Consumer Testing.
A consumer acceptance test modified for COVID-19 safety was conducted in 2021 using consumers recruited from the database maintained by the SSC.Consumers aged 18-64 y that purchased and consumed Cheddar cheese at least once a month were recruited.Data was collected using an electronic ballot using Compusense Cloud software (Compusense Inc., Guelph, Canada).Consumers were provided with each of the 6 cheeses described above.Each cheese was cut into a 3 cm cube and placed into a lidded 60 mL soufflé cup with a randomly generated 3-digit code.Samples were prepared with overhead lights off to prevent light oxidation.For this test, qualified consumers picked up a thermal bag (ULINE, Pleasant Prairie, WI) with coded samples, a Ziploc® bag of unsalted saltines, typed instructions including the color card described in the previous section, and a commercial bottle of spring water.Consumers were instructed to take the samples home and then to click on the provided hyperlink to conduct the test within 4 h of pickup.
Once consumers clicked on the ballot link and initiated the test, before tasting, participants were asked to complete a set of questions using the provided color standards card.Participants were asked to identify the color on the card that looked the most like the color of the Cheddar cheese they typically purchased, the color that looked the most natural, and the color that looked the least natural before tasting any samples.Consumers then proceeded to evaluate cheeses monadically.For each cheese, consumers were first asked to evaluate color liking (no tasting) followed by overall liking on a 9-point hedonic scale where 1 = dislike extremely and 9 = like extremely.Just-about-right (JAR) questions were asked for flavor intensity where 1 = not nearly enough flavor and 5 = much too much flavor and sharpness where 1 = not nearly sharp enough and 5 = much too sharp.Participants were also asked to rate the sharpness of each cheese before and after tasting using the scale 1 = mild, 2 = medium, 2 = sharp, and 4 = extra sharp.Samples were presented in a Williams design to counteract order effects.Participants were required to rest for 3 min and cleanse their palates with unsalted crackers between cheeses.After completing the test, participants were compensated with a $20 gift card to a local store.

Statistical Analysis
MaxDiff importance scores from Survey 1 were evaluated using hierarchical Bayesian (HB) estimation using Lighthouse Studio (Sawtooth Software, Version 9.8.0,Orem, UT).HB estimation is a commonly applied technique for evaluation of MaxDiff scoring and allows MaxDiff scores to be presented in a relative positive/ negative relationship (zero-centered) or rescaled to 0 to 100 (Orme, 2020;Sipple et al., 2022;Racette and Drake, 2022).All other analyses were performed with XLSTAT (version 2019.3.1,Addinsoft, Boston, USA) at 95% confidence (P < 0.05).Cluster analysis of individual MaxDiff importance scores was performed using Euclidean distances and Wards linkage to categorize respondents with similar answers into separate groups.ANOVA (ANOVA) with means separation was performed using Fisher's LSD on the MaxDiff importance scores, trained panel attribute intensities and consumer liking data.Consumer JAR questions were analyzed with penalty analysis and chi-squared analysis with the Marasculio procedure for multiple comparisons.Five point non-JAR scales (eg agreement scales) were evaluated by Kruskal-Wallis with Dunn's post-hoc test.

Participant Demographics
A total of n = 1226 Cheddar cheese consumers responded to Survey 1.The average time to complete the survey was 37 min.A majority (75%) of participants were female and 25% were male.Survey participants represented a wide distribution of ages, with 24% of respondents aged 18-24 years old, 25% of respondents aged 25-34 years old, 18% of respondents aged 35-44 years old, 14% of respondents aged 45-54 years old and 17% of respondents aged 55-64 years old or older.Survey 1 participants indicated minimal familiarity with different manufacturing regions of Cheddar cheese but were more familiar with Cheddar cheese colors, brands, and sharpness labels (Table 1).
A similar distribution of Cheddar cheese consumers (age and gender) participated in Survey 2 (n = 1183) (P > 0.05).The average time to complete the survey was 39 min.Participants were also asked to indicate the region of the United States they grew up in.Approximately half (56%) of participants grew up in the Southeastern US, 6% grew up in the Western US, 2% grew up in the Southwestern US, 12% grew up in the Midwestern US, 16% grew up in the Northeastern US and 8% grew up outside of the US (internationally).Survey 2 participants also showed a variety of Cheddar purchase habits, with 19% of consumers choosing mild, 18% medium, 46% sharp, and 18% extra sharp when asked to select which type of Cheddar cheese they purchased most often.
Participants in consumer acceptance testing were 45% male and 55% female (n = 196).Participants in consumer testing represented a similar range of ages to that from the surveys (P > 0.05).Consumers also represented a range of Cheddar purchase habits, with most participants indicating that they purchased multiple types of Cheddar cheese.When asked which type of Cheddar cheese they purchased most often, 13% of participants indicated mild Cheddar, 29% indicated medium Cheddar, 49% indicated sharp Cheddar, and 9% indicated extra sharp Cheddar, similar to the distribution seen in Survey 2.

Consumer Preferences for Cheddar Cheese Color
In all 3 phases of this study, consumers displayed an overall preference for at least some orange color in Cheddar cheese (Table 2, Figure 2).Based on color MaxDiff scores from Survey 1, consumers overall preferred light orange Cheddar cheeses over other Cheddar color options, and preferred dark orange Cheddar cheeses over white Cheddar cheeses (Figure 2).NCI Color 4 received the lowest average MaxDiff score (4.1), while NCI Color 8 received the highest average MaxDiff score (14.7).Preference for NCI Color 1 was higher than NCI Colors 2-4, but lower than NCI Colors 5-11, Familiarity was scored on a 5-point scale where 1 = completely unfamiliar, 3 = neither familiar or unfamiliar, and 5 = completely familiar.
indicating that a subset of consumers preferred white Cheddar cheese.Color preference generally increased with increasing orange color saturation until NCI Color 8, but decreased again as orange color saturation increased past NCI Color 8, indicating that an optimal point was reached at NCI Color 8.This optimal point varied slightly from previous results with Cheddar cheese shreds in which consumers preferred NCI Color 6 for Cheddar cheese shreds (Speight et al., 2019).However, the trends seen in these MaxDiff results are supported by previous work with block Cheddar cheese (Wadhwani and McMahon, 2012), who observed that consumer liking of Cheddar cheese color was lower for lighter-colored cheeses and very dark orange cheeses and higher for moderately orange Cheddar cheeses.A similar trend was observed by Meals et al. (2020) in which consumers returned the lowest liking scores for white and light yellow/orange Cheddar cheese shreds that were perceived as too light on a 5-point JAR scale.Three distinct consumer clusters for Cheddar color were identified from survey 1 Color MaxDiff scores (Figure 3).Color Cluster 1, designated the Light Orange cluster, (n = 309) exhibited a preference for moderate/light orange Cheddar cheeses, with preference increasing as orange color saturation increased until an optimal point was reached at Color 8, after which preference began to decrease.The Light Orange cluster also returned the lowest preference for white Cheddar cheese out of the 3 identified clusters.Color Cluster 2, designated the White Cheddar cluster, (n = 315) showed a strong preference for white Cheddar cheese, with the optimal point at Color 1 and preference consistently decreasing as orange color saturation increased.Cluster 3, designated the Dark Orange cluster, (n = 601) was the largest identified cluster.Consumers in this group displayed consistently increasing preference for Cheddar cheese color as orange color saturation increased, with the lowest preference for Color 1 and an optimal point at Color 10.NCI Colors 6 and 7 were the only options acceptable (MaxDiff score above 0) to all 3 consumer clusters, which supports the supposition that light orange Cheddar is preferred by consumers overall.Questions at the end of Survey 1 provided further evidence that consumers preferred at least some orange color in Cheddar cheese, with 58.3% of survey participants indicating they preferred to purchase orange Cheddar, 20.0% indicating no preference, and 21.7% indicating they prefer to purchase white Cheddar (Table 2).28.6%I do not have a preference.20.0%I slightly prefer to buy white Cheddar cheese.
12.6% I strongly prefer to buy white Cheddar cheese.9.1% A 5-point agree/disagree scale was used where 1 = "I strongly prefer to buy orange Cheddar cheese," 3 = "I do not have a preference" and 5 = "I strongly prefer to buy White Cheddar cheese."Further, in consumer acceptance testing of commercially available Cheddar cheeses, white Cheddar cheeses received the lowest color liking scores (mean = 6.3 on a 1 to 9 point scale, P < 0.05), while orange Cheddars received the highest color liking (mean = 6.7 -6.9 on a 1 to 9 point scale, P < 0.05).These results collectively demonstrate that most consumers prefer at least some orange color in Cheddar cheese.Survey 1 identified NCI Color 8 as an optimal point for consumers overall, but NCI Colors 6 and 7 were found to be acceptable to a wider range of consumers, including those who prefer white Cheddar, light orange Cheddar, and dark orange Cheddar.

Perception of Cheddar Cheese Color and "Naturalness"
Results from the purchase factor MaxDiff in Survey 1 indicated that flavor, sharpness, and price were the most valued attributes of Cheddar cheese (Figure 4).This result is in alignment with the findings of Speight et al. ( 2019) and Meals et al. (2020) who reported that price and flavor and sharpness of Cheddar cheese shreds were most important to consumers for purchase.In the current study, all-natural labeling and Cheddar cheese color were ranked 5th and 6th respectively out of a list of 15 items in the exercise.This suggests that color and "natural-ness" are less important than intrinsic characteristics such as flavor and sharpness, but are more important than factors such as region or country of origin and other packaging attributes.Cheddar cheese color received a significantly lower av-erage MaxDiff score than an all-natural label, which indicates that overall consumers place more importance on an all-natural label on Cheddar cheese than on the color of the cheese itself.However, survey respondents also indicated unfamiliarity with where Cheddar cheese color comes from (1.8 on a 4-point scale where 1 = very unfamiliar and 4 = very familiar) (Table 1).Allnatural labels have been shown to support consumer desire for familiarity, which may help to explain why Cheddar cheese consumers value these labels over a less familiar subject such as cheese color.
Agree/disagree questions from Survey 1 indicated that consumers believe white Cheddar cheese is more natural and artisanal than orange Cheddar cheese (Table 3).These results were supported by agree/ disagree questions asked during Survey 2 (Table 4) and consumer acceptance testing (Table 5), where consumers indicated that white Cheddar cheese or the color of white Cheddar cheese was more natural than orange Cheddar or the color of orange Cheddar.Other questions from Survey 1 and Survey 2 provide further information regarding consumer perception of naturalness as it related to Cheddar cheese color.Survey 1 participants were asked to select which factors they thought influenced the color of Cheddar cheese in a check-all-that-apply (CATA) format.Seventy 8 percent of survey respondents indicated artificial pigment/colorants influenced Cheddar color, while 56% of respondents thought that natural pigment/colorants impacted color and 36% of respondents indicated that dairy cow feed influenced Cheddar color (results not shown).Survey 2 participants generally agreed with the statements "White Cheddar cheese is made with natural color" and "Orange Cheddar cheese is made with artificial color" but returned a neutral response for the statement "Orange Cheddar cheese is made with natural color" and disagreed with the statement "White Cheddar cheese is made with artificial color" (Table 4).Similar results were observed by Schiano and Drake (2021) in an online survey with n = 1210 dairy product consumers.Over 50% of consumers in that study indicated that Cheddar cheese contained natural color but about 40% indicated that it contained artificial color.Consumers in general understand that orange Cheddar cheese is made with added color, but are unsure whether the colorant is natural or artificial.This result may help to explain why consumers indicated low familiarity with where Cheddar cheese color from (discussed earlier).
In both Survey 2 and consumer acceptance testing, consumers were asked to select which NCI color standard represented Cheddar cheese that was the most natural and least natural.Both exercises returned a similar bimodal distribution (Figure 5).White Cheddar cheese (NCI Colors 1-4) was selected as most natural by 50.3% of participants in Survey 2 and 43.4% of consumers in acceptance testing.Light orange Cheddar cheese (NCI Colors 5-8) was selected as most natural by 40.6% of survey participants and 45.9% of consumer testing participants.Dark orange Cheddar (NCI Colors 9-11) was selected as most natural by 9.1% of survey participants and 10.7% of consumer testing participants.For least natural, dark orange Cheddars were selected by a large majority of Cheddar cheese consumers (69.3% and 67.3% from Survey 2 and consumer testing respectively), while white Cheddar was considered least natural by roughly one-third of participants in the 2 exercises (31.4% and 30.6% respectively).Most consumers consider white Cheddar and light orange Cheddar cheese to be most natural, but are divided between dark orange and white Cheddar when it comes to which cheeses are least natural.Light orange Ched- dar was acceptable to a wide range of consumers.Comment data from Survey 1 (data not shown) indicated that this divide may be influenced by to the erroneous belief that white Cheddar cheese has been artificially bleached or lightened to achieve a lighter color.The statement "White Cheddar cheese is made by artifi- 3.6 a White Cheddar cheese is natural.
3.5 a Orange Cheddar cheese is healthy.
3.4 b The color of Cheddar cheese indicates the flavor intensity (mild/medium/sharp) 3.3 bc White Cheddar cheese is artisanal.
3.2 c White Cheddar cheese is healthier than orange Cheddar cheese.
3.0 d Neutral Orange Cheddar cheese is natural.
3.0 d White Cheddar cheese has more aged Cheddar flavor.
3.0 d Orange Cheddar cheese has more aged Cheddar flavor.
2.9 d Orange Cheddar cheese is artisanal.
2.7 e Disagree The color of Cheddar cheese indicates what region of the US it is from/manufactured in 2.5 f The color of Cheddar cheese indicates what country it is from/manufactured in 2.4 f The color of Cheddar cheese indicates if it is organic.

g
A 5-point agree/disagree scale was used where 1 = completely disagree and 5 = completely agree.Different letters indicate differences (P < 0.05).
Table 4. Mean consumer responses to agree/disagree questions from Survey 2 (n = 1183)

Statement
Mean Score Category Sharp Cheddar cheese tastes different than mild Cheddar cheese.4.7 a Agree The sharpness label on a Cheddar cheese label indicates how intense the flavor of the cheese will be.
4.3 b The sharpness of Cheddar cheese indicates how long the cheese has been aged.
3.8 c The sharpness of Cheddar cheese is always related to how long the cheese is aged.
3.7 c White Cheddar cheese and orange Cheddar cheese taste different.
3.7 c White Cheddar cheese is made with natural color.
3.5 d Orange Cheddar cheese is made with artificial color.
3.5 d The color of Cheddar cheese indicates how sharp the cheese is.
3.3 d The color of Cheddar cheese indicates how much flavor the cheese has.
3.2 e The color of Cheddar cheese depends on how long it is aged.
3.1 e Orange Cheddar cheese is sharper than white Cheddar cheese.
3.1 e Neutral Orange Cheddar cheese is made with natural color.
3.0 fg The color of Cheddar cheese indicates what region it is manufactured in.
2.8 gh Disagree The color of Cheddar cheese indicates the quality of the cheese.
2.7 h White Cheddar cheese is sharper than orange Cheddar cheese.
2.7 h White Cheddar cheese is made with artificial color.
2.4 i White Cheddar cheese is made by artificially lightening or bleaching orange Cheddar cheese.

i
A 5-point agree/disagree scale was used where 1 = completely disagree and 5 = completely agree.Different letters indicate differences (P < 0.05).
Table 5. Mean consumer responses to agree/disagree questions from consumer acceptance testing (n = 196)

Statement Mean Score Category
The sharpness label on Cheddar cheese tells you how intense the flavor of the cheese will be 4.1 a Agree White and orange Cheddar cheese have different flavors 3.6 b White Cheddar cheese is natural 3.5 b The color of Cheddar cheese indicates the flavor intensity (mild/medium/sharp) 3.0 c Neutral White Cheddar cheese has more aged Cheddar flavor than orange Cheddar cheese 2.9 cd The sharpness label on Cheddar cheese tells you how old the cheese is 2.9 cd In general, white Cheddar cheese and orange Cheddar cheese taste the same 2.7 cde Disagree White Cheddar cheese is healthier than orange Cheddar cheese 2.7 cde Orange Cheddar cheese is natural 2.6 de Orange Cheddar cheese has more aged Cheddar flavor than white Cheddar 2.5 de Orange Cheddar cheese is healthier than white Cheddar cheese 2.3 e A 5-point agree/disagree scale was used where 1 = completely disagree and 5 = completely agree.Different letters indicate differences (P < 0.05).
cially lightening or bleaching orange Cheddar cheese" was included in Survey 2 to further explore this trend.Twenty-five percent of respondents strongly disagreed with this statement, 30.6% somewhat disagreed, 31.7% were neutral or unsure, 10.6% somewhat agreed, and 1.7% strongly agreed (data not shown).This distribution of responses indicates that most Cheddar cheese consumers are about or unsure of how white Cheddar cheese is related to orange Cheddar, which may help to explain the trends seen in this study.
Consumer responses to NCI color standard questions from Survey 2 were clustered to further illustrate differences in color and perception of natural.Three different clusters of Cheddar cheese consumers were identified.Response distributions for each cluster illustrate differences in perception of "natural-ness" among Cheddar cheese consumers (Figure 6).Cluster 1 consumers indicated NCI Color 4 (y = 3.69) was the most natural and NCI Color 11 (y = 10.75) was the least natural.
Cluster 2 consumers indicated that NCI 7 (y = 7.08) was the most natural and NCI 2 (y = 2.13) was the least natural and Cluster 3 consumers selected NCI 3 (y = 2.82) as most natural, while NCI 9 (y = 9.20) was least natural.Further differences among these clusters are discussed in the next section.
While differences were observed between white and orange Cheddar in terms of "naturalness," both white Cheddar and orange Cheddar were perceived as healthy in Survey 1 and in consumer acceptance testing (Table 3, Table 5).Schiano et al. (2020) reported that consumers display cognitive overlap between the terms sustainable, natural, and healthy but apply these terms distinctly when considering dairy products.Consumers disagreed with both the statement "White Cheddar cheese is healthier than orange Cheddar cheese" and the statement "Orange Cheddar cheese is healthier than white Cheddar cheese" indicating that perception of healthiness for orange and white Cheddar cheese is not different in the mind of the consumer, and that consumers do not relate color to healthiness (Table 3, Table 5).
Evidence from this study suggests that consumers value all-natural labels and color of Cheddar cheese while making purchase decisions and perceive white and light orange Cheddars as natural.However, their understanding of the "naturalness" of Cheddar cheese color is limited by unfamiliarity with where differences in color come from.This issue highlights an opportunity for the dairy industry to educate Cheddar cheese consumers on white and orange Cheddar cheese to support natural perception of these products.Color affects consumer perception of "naturalness" but does not affect perception of healthiness of Cheddar cheese.This evaluation of consumer beliefs surrounding Cheddar cheese color and flavor illustrates the potential ramifications of limiting the use of colorants in Cheddar cheese.Removing or changing the colorants used in Cheddar cheese may affect consumer purchase behaviors.

Perceptual Relationship between Cheddar Cheese Color and Flavor
Cheddar color affects consumer perception of cheese flavor and sharpness from all 3 phases of this study.Survey 1 respondents on average agreed with the statements "White and orange Cheddar cheese have different flavors" and "The color of Cheddar cheese indicates the flavor intensity (mild/medium/sharp)" but returned an overall neutral score for statements surrounding aged Cheddar flavor and Cheddar cheese color (Table 3).Consumers perceive a flavor difference between orange and white Cheddar, but are unsure if differences in flavor intensity are the same as differences in aged Cheddar flavor.
From Survey 2, consumers selected different optimal color points for each sharpness label and the distribution of responses for each NCI Cheddar cheese color was distinct.Responses for mild Cheddar were approximately normally distributed with a center at NCI Color 6 (Figure 7).Responses for medium Cheddar cheese were bimodally distributed with peaks at NCI Color 6 and NCI Color 8 and a slight skew toward the darker orange colors.Responses for sharp Cheddar cheese were strongly skewed toward dark orange with a peak in response frequency at NCI Color 10.However, response frequency decreased after NCI Color 10, which indicates that this color standard may be an optimal point for sharp Cheddar cheese.The overall differences in response distribution shape and center illustrate that consumers believe increasing orange color saturation corresponds with increasing sharp flavor in Cheddar cheese.Response distribution from color expectation questions also indicated that consumers generally conflated sharpness with flavor intensity (Figure 8).NCI Color 1 received the highest overall frequency of responses for "least sharp" and "least intense flavor" out of the provided color options.In contrast, NCI Color 11 received the highest frequency of responses for "sharpest" and "most intense flavor."However, a small subset of consumers (approximately 130 out of 1183) indicated the opposite response, indicating NCI Color 1 would be the sharpest and have the most intense flavor.This trend may be attributed to consumer familiarity with sharp white Cheddar such as those produced in the Northeastern United States.Regionality of Cheddar cheese color and flavor is further discussed later in this section.
Consumer purchase habits of Cheddar cheese (survey 2) influenced their perception of Cheddar flavor and color (Figure 6).Cluster 1 consumers thought that NCI 9 represented the sharpest Cheddar with the most flavor (y = 9.31 and y = 9.42 respectively).Cluster 2 consumers displayed distinct preferences and expectations for dark orange Cheddar, with NCI Color 10 (y = 9.77) being the most flavorful and Color 11 (y = 10.59)being the sharpest.Both Cluster 1 and Cluster 2 indicated that mild, medium, and sharp Cheddar are differentiated by increasing orange color.In contrast, Cluster 3 consumers showed clear preferences and expectations for white Cheddar cheese.This group also did not perceive color differences between mild, medium, and sharp Cheddar, indicating that Cheddar of all 3 types would be NCI Color 5 (y = 5.04, 5.50 and 5.23 respectively).Cluster 3 consumers considered NCI Color 4 to be the most flavorful and the sharpest (y = 4.13 and y = 4.54 respectively).
Consumer acceptance testing also provided further evidence for the perceptual relationship between sharpness and Cheddar cheese color.Trained panelists confirmed that flavor differences were present among Cheddar cheeses selected for use in consumer testing (Table 6).Consumers were able to detect visual differences among Cheddar cheeses and were able to effectively describe variation among cheeses using the provided color card (Figure 9).Taste test participants were asked to evaluate sharpness of Cheddar cheeses based solely on color/appearance (perceived sharpness before tasting) and on flavor (actual sharpness after tasting) (Table 7).Medium cheeses consistently received lower flavor sharpness scores than sharp cheeses in this study, indicating that consumers are able to differentiate between different Cheddar cheeses sharpness levels, consistent with previous studies (Wadhwani and McMahon, 2012;Meals et al., 2020).Dark orange Cheddars received the highest perceived sharpness (based on appearance only) scores and white Cheddars received the lowest.Based on overall liking scores, consumers preferred the dark orange sharp Cheddar cheese, which was characterized by sulfur and brothy flavors with a low intensity of free fatty acid flavor (Table 6).Drake et al. (2009) reported that brothy and sulfur flavors were preferred flavors for sharp Cheddar cheeses.In contrast, consumers were less accepting of the white extra sharp Cheddar, which was characterized by fruity, nutty, sulfur, and catty flavors.Sixty percent of participating consumers indicated that this cheese was too sharp by sharpness JAR score and this cheese was penalized for being too sharp (results not shown).All of the medium Cheddar cheeses tested were perceived as not sharp enough but penalties in liking for being "not sharp enough" were lower than the penalties for being "too sharp" (results not shown).Consumers in this study were more accepting of Cheddar cheeses that were perceived as too mild than too sharp.Wadhwani and McMahon (2012) also asked consumers to rate Cheddar cheese sharpness on a 5-point JAR scale for both commercially available full-fat Cheddar cheeses and reduced-fat prototype Cheddars.Penalty analysis results were not reported, but the prototype Cheddar that returned the lowest sharpness JAR score received one of the highest overall liking scores and an overall flavor JAR score of 3.1 on a 5-point JAR scale, indicating that while consumers perceived this cheese as not sharp enough, it was still liked and accepted.No cheeses in their study were perceived as too sharp.Sharp and extra sharp Cheddar cheeses used for consumer testing in this study displayed a range of aged Cheddar flavors, including sulfur, fruity, and catty which may have contributed to consumer perception of sharpness (Table 6).Consumers may also conflate cheese sharpness with general cheese flavor intensity.As such, cheeses with more intense flavors, regardless of the actual flavor profile being young or aged (eg intense sour taste in the absence of other flavors), may be perceived as sharp by some consumers (Drake et al., 2009).However, both survey and consumer acceptance results in the current study indicate a relationship between cheese color and expected flavor.

Cheddar Cheese Consumer Region and Color Perception
Regionality of US Cheddar cheese consumers and their purchase behavior also affected perception of Cheddar cheese color.Survey 1 participants disagreed with statements regarding relationships between extrinsic Cheddar attributes and Cheddar cheese color factors such as "The color of Cheddar cheese indicates what region of the U.S. it is from/manufactured in" (Table 3).However, consumers also indicated the lowest familiarity with different regions where Cheddar cheese is made (2.3 on a 5-point scale where 1 = completely unfamiliar and 5 = completely familiar) (Table 1) and region-related attributes (Made Locally, Made in the United States, and Made Internationally) were ranked 9th, 11th, and 15th in the Purchase Factors MaxDiff exercise from Survey 1 (Figure 4).When asked to guess which brands of Cheddar cheese were made in which region of the world, 36.8% of n = 1226 consumers guessed correctly and 63.2% guessed incorrectly (data not shown).Most consumers do not understand or place value on regionality of Cheddar cheese, which may be why they disagree that Cheddar cheese color indicates region of origin (Table 3).Historically, some color differences have been observed in Cheddar   Cheese flavors were scored on a 0 to 15-point universal intensity scale (Spectrum method, (Meilgaard et al., 2007)).Flavors not listed were not detected in cheeses.Most cheese flavors fall between 0 and 5 on this scale (Drake, 2004).ND -not detected.FFA -free fatty acid flavor, Different letters following means indicate significant differences within a column (P < 0.05).
cheeses manufactured in different regions of the United States, with many Cheddars from Vermont being white in color, while Cheddars from Wisconsin are more typically orange (Aubrey, 2013).With this understanding of consumer unfamiliarity with regional differences between Cheddar cheeses (Survey 1), we investigated if consumers that originated from (grew up in) different parts of the US perceived Cheddar color differently.Participants in Survey 2 were asked to indicate the U.S state they grew up in.Responses were then categorized into different regions of origin for analysis.Significant differences in Cheddar cheese color perception were documented based on region the consumer was from (Table 8).All regional groups indicated that orange color increased when going from mild to medium to sharp Cheddar.Consumers who were born outside of the United States, designated "International" consumers, expected Cheddar cheese to be lighter in color than other groups, and indicated that the cheese they ate as children was lighter in color.Most Cheddar cheeses made outside of the US do not include colorants which is consistent with international consumer perception of Cheddar color.Consumers who grew up in the Western US indicated the darkest average color for Cheddar cheese they would expect to be the "sharpest" while consumers from the Northeastern US indicated the lightest color for this attribute on average.Cheddar cheese made in the Northeast US is most commonly white in color, which may contribute to differences in perception for Northeast consumers.
Regional differences in consumer Cheddar cheese flavor preferences have been previously documented (Drake et al., 2009).These authors evaluated white and colored Cheddar cheeses and noted a regional effect on Cheddar cheese color liking.Consumers on the west coast assigned higher color liking scores to cheeses in general.Differences in color and color intensity liking were small compared with differences in overall and  flavor liking.This work was also completed more than 10 y ago.Additional work would be needed for further clarification of the presence/absence of current regional consumer preferences in Cheddar color liking.Further, the national scope of the US Cheddar cheese industry may now preclude actual regional differences in Cheddar cheese color.
Consumer purchase habits for Cheddar cheese also affected their perception of Cheddar cheese color (P < 0.05, results not shown).Survey 2 respondents were asked to indicate which sharpness level of Cheddar cheese they purchased most often, and their responses were used to create purchase groups.Similar to the results seen in regionality, all purchase groups indicated that orange color increased when going from mild to medium to sharp Cheddar.Extra sharp consumers expected Cheddar cheese to be lighter in color than other groups and returned a lower color score for sharpest and most flavorful (y = 7.50 and y = 7.13 respectively).Survey participants from the Northeastern US were more likely to purchase extra sharp Cheddar (P < 0.05) than participants from other regions.As discussed previously, white Cheddar cheese prevalence in the Northeast US may have contributed to differences in perception.This study is limited in that participants in surveys and consumer testing were located in the state of North Carolina and results observed may not be the same for US consumers in other areas.In addition, only consumers who indicated they purchase Cheddar cheese participated in this study.Consumers who do not purchase Cheddar cheese may perceive its color and "naturalness" differently.From a practical perspective, the majority of Cheddar cheese consumers value some intensity of orange color in Cheddar cheese and there is an association with Cheddar color intensity and flavor intensity or sharpness.Consumers also value an allnatural label.Results from this study indicate that an alteration to the labeling guidelines for all natural and Cheddar color would impact Cheddar cheese appeal to US consumers.

CONCLUSIONS
Consumer perception of Cheddar cheese is influenced by the color of the cheese.Consumers value all-natural labeling over Cheddar cheese color when making purchase decisions.Consumers also agreed that white Cheddar cheese is natural, but were neutral or disagreed that orange Cheddar is natural.However, in all 3 phases of this study, consumers displayed an overall preference for at least some orange color in Cheddar cheese.Color preference generally increased with increasing orange color saturation until NCI Color 8, but decreased as orange color saturation increased past this point.This indicates that while consumers view white Cheddar as more natural than orange, they prefer to purchase orange Cheddar cheese.There is also an association between Cheddar color and consumer perceived cheese flavor sharpness.An orange color was generally associated with sharper flavor.The trends observed in this study provide further context to the potential ramifications of altering regulations regarding natural labeling and Cheddar cheese color. is the darkest/most saturated orange color.Different letters following means within a column signify significant differences (P < 0.05).Questions that returned non-significant differences have been removed (Most Flavor, Most Natural).
Racette et al.: Consumer perception of Cheddar…

Figure 2 .
Figure 2. Overall consumer MaxDiff scores for Cheddar cheese color from Survey 1 (n = 1226).MaxDiff scores were rescaled to sum to a total of 100.Different letters indicate differences (P < 0.05).Error bars represent standard error for each color MaxDiff score.A higher MaxDiff score indicates a more appealing color.NCI -National Cheese Institute, International Dairy Foods Association, Washington DC

Figure 3 .
Figure 3. Identified consumer cluster MaxDiff scores for Cheddar cheese color from Survey 1 (n = 1226).All MaxDiff scores have been rescaled to sum to a total of 100.Error bars represent standard error for each color within each cluster.A higher MaxDiff score indicates a more appealing color.NCI -National Cheese Institute, International Dairy Foods Association, Washington DC

Figure 4 .
Figure 4. Overall consumer MaxDiff attribute scores important for purchase of Cheddar cheese from Survey 1 (n = 1226).MaxDiff scores were rescaled to sum to a total of 100.A higher number indicates greater importance.Different letters indicate differences (P < 0.05).

Figure 5 .
Figure 5. Response distributions from Cheddar cheeses consumers from Survey 2 (n = 1183) and consumer acceptance testing (n = 196) for perception of "natural" Cheddar cheese color.Participants were asked to select which color represented Cheddar cheese that they thought would be the most natural and the least natural.Color number refers to NCI color chip, NCI -National Cheese Institute, International Dairy Foods Association, Washington DC Racette et al.:  Consumer perception of Cheddar… tasting) for dark orange medium Cheddar (P < 0.05), but were not significantly different for dark orange sharp Cheddar (P > 0.05), supporting the conclusion that consumers expect dark orange Cheddar to have more sharp Cheddar flavor.

Figure 8 .
Figure 7. Consumer perception of Cheddar cheese sharpness label and Cheddar color from Survey 2. Survey participants (n = 1183) were asked to indicate which color they thought best represents mild/medium/sharp Cheddar.NCI -National Cheese Institute, International Dairy Foods Association, Washington DC Racette et al.: Consumer perception of Cheddar… Figure 9. Mean color match scores from consumer acceptance testing for perception of Cheddar cheese color (n = 196).Participants were asked to select which color on the provided color card best represented the 6 Cheddar cheeses being evaluated.Different letters indicate significant differences (P < 0.05).

Table 1 .
Racette et al.: Consumer perception of Cheddar… Familiarity scores for Cheddar cheese attributes from Survey 1 (n = 1226)

Table 2 .
Racette et al.: Consumer perception of Cheddar… Consumer response distribution from Cheddar cheese color preference question in Survey 1 (n = 1226)

Table 3 .
Racette et al.:Consumer perception of Mean consumer responses to agree/disagree questions regarding Cheddar cheese attributes from Survey 1 (n = 1226)

Table 6 .
Trained panel flavor profiles of Cheddar cheeses selected for consumer acceptance testing Sample

Table 7 .
Comparison of sharpness perception in consumer acceptance testing(n = 196) *Significance determined using a paired t-test on means.Sharpness was scored on a 4-pt scale where 1 = mild, 2 = medium, 3 = sharp, and 4 = extra sharp.Data represents n = 196 consumers.

Table 8 .
Means of expected Cheddar cheese color questions by region the consumer grew up in(n = 1183) Means represent average response on an 11-point scale where 1 = NCI Color 1 and 11 = NCI Color 11.Color 1 is the lightest color and Color 11