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Table 3. Percentage of panelists who indicated that c=ed bighead
carp was better &an or equal to other products - Comparison of
precooking treatments.
Comparison Product Better Than Not Don’t
and Precook or Equal to as Good Know
Mackerel
Oven 20 3 77
Steam 18 4 77
Salmon
TUB
Oven 38 39 24
steam 45 32 24
Oven 62 38 0
steam 67 33 0
A~~d~~ about products obviously dictate purchase intentions. For similar-sized cans,
prolix were asked whether they would be willing to pay as much for the bighead carp as other
Responses to such bottom-line type questions provide insight into overall
ce and attitude. Willingness to pay as much for a new product as traditional canned
products is viewed as an overall positive for the product concept. Table 4 presents the
~r~~~~ges of panelists willing to pay as much for the two canned carp products as canned
mackerel, salmon and tuna. Fifty-two percent indicated they would not pay as much for the
oven-cooked carp as mackerel while 55% would pay as much as mackerel for the steam-cooked
carp (Table 4). It should be noted that only 50 panelists answered the mackerel section of the
willingness to buy questionnaire. With that and the fact that 70% of the panelists indicated they
were unfamiliar with mackerel (Table 3), any comparisons with mackerel may not be valid.
Obviously, some panelists unfamiliar with mackerel chose to guess rather than base their answer
on experience. Comparisons with salmon and tuna should be more meaningful since 76% and
lo@& of pmdists were familiar with salmon and tuna, respectively (Table 3). As Table 4
presents, 58 and 54% were not willing to pay as much for oven or steam-cooked carp as salmon,
respectively. The *mgat mponse on willingness to pay was the comparison with tuna. Sixtythree
and 67% said they would pay as much for oven or steam-cooked carp as ttma, respectively.
These r’e~& itre encouraging S&Z tuna is the highest-volume canned fish product sold in the
U.S. Table 4 a &&x&e there may be market potential for either of the canned carp products if
either could be priced competively with canned tuna.