36

F L A V O U R E D M I L K A N D FLAVOURED MILK ‘TABLETS’ B Y D . S H E P P A R D , H . B U R T O N A N D S A L M A D . C A R R l N C l

National Institute for Research in Dairying, University of Reading and

C . I>. LEWIS

Reading Education Department

The subject of flavourings for milk and milk ‘tab- lets’ is of much interest at present, for flavoured milks are now being retailed and flavoured milk tablets have been used recently in a number of British schools.

There is evidence to show that flavoured milks are popular outside this country ( l ) , but it might be unwise to conclude from this that such drinks must be a great success here. The earliest evidence, for this country, appears in a monograph by Wright (2), his experiments being carried out in 1936 at a period when schools were issued with cheap milk. Children at three schools were allowed to choose between plain milk or five fruit-flavoured milks over a period of five weeks. It was found that there was an increase of forty-four per cent on the num- ber of bottles supplied in the first week, but this declined steadily until the number taken was only ten per cent greater in the fifth week. The decline in the number taking milk applied equally for plain and flavoured milk, however, so it seems that it was not the flavourings which made the children gradually lose interest. The fact that the amount supplied was still ten per cent higher at the end of five weeks with conditions under which loss of interest seems most likely to occur, together with the considerable total ‘sale’ over this period, seems to suggest that flavoured milks might well be worth promoting.

Wright’s experiments were only carried out with children and i t may be that such milks would be popular with adults. Furthermore, the flavouring syrups were possibly less good at that time than they are now: two commercial products in use in 1936 were criticized by Charley (3) as having a ‘perfume’ smell and taste and as bearing no resem- blance to the fruit they were supposed to represent.

A list of the quantity of flavoured milk sold, and the flavours preferred, at a Trade stand in the 1955 ‘Ideal Home Exhibition’ has been published (4, 5 ) . While this evidence is of interest, i t is presumably almost entirely concerned with people visiting the Exhibition for a short time only, who would there- fore take only one drink each: it is also likely few would have tried flavoured milk before. It follows therefore that these figures can tell one nothing about the liking or disliking of flavoured milks, but only that a number of people were sufficiently interested to try them. The fact that one flavour was taken more than another can only indicate that

people’s presuppositions about the flavours are such as to lead most to select particular flavours. I t is possible, and perhaps likely, that these pre- suppositions would have been confirmed, if only because the consumers already had a bias towards liking such flavours, but these data cannot offer any certain evidence for this.

The results of two further investigations have just been published (6, 8), when the writers’ own studies were complete. One was carried out on a large scale, samples of pasteurized flavoured milk being given free to a number of ‘normal’ households (6). Completed questionnaire forms were later obtained showing the opinion of each member of the family on the samples.

I t was found that only ten per cent of these con- sumers did not like these flavoured milks; that approximately twenty per cent of the consumers ‘could take milk with satisfaction in the flavoured form, whereas they were allergic to plain milk’; that i n nine out of the ten districts concerned more children than adults liked the samples (on average a 4.5 per cent difference). I t is also stated that one flavour (strawberry) was the most popular, but that there was little difference between the accept- ability of the other flavours used.

Results from a survey of this kind can be decep- tive. In this case it seems that the investigators were reasonably successful in obtaining a fair cross- section of households (7), while the percentage who returned questionnaires was also high (ninety-four per cent). I t is, however, generally held that opinions should not be obtained from more than one member of each family, if i t is intended that the opinions should be independent. Furthermore, a letter was previously sent to each household concerned suggesting strongly that those concerned would like the flavoured milk. The size of the sample was impressive, however, for 5,075 opinions were obtained, and it will be shown later that the appa- rent conflict between results of this survey and those from the experiments to be described here can be simply accounted for by differences in the form of questions used.

In another recently published article (8) it is stated that market research carried out in the summer of 1954 showed that ‘the public generally was very keen on the idea of drinking flavoured milk-especially people who disliked the taste of plain milk’. The details of this research are not

given, so that it is not possible to assess the true value of such a statement.

l‘hc on ly othcr cvidcncc on flavourings known to the authors is an unpublished report by the Ministry of Food on the use of flavoured inilk tablets in schools (9). These were introduced into five schools as a possible substitutc for liquid or dried milk, scvcral different flavours being used. The trials were made over an eight-wcck period. The main conclusions wcre that, while the popula- i ty of the tablets did diminish towards theend of the period, the percentage of children taking them compared most favourably with the percentage taking liquid and reconstituted dried milk in other schools. The selected flavourings were well re- ceived by the children with some preference being shown for Chocolate, Caramel and Butterscotch while Rlackcurrant, Cherry and Orange proved to be the least interesting.

There have been some reports in the Daily Press since these milk tablets were issued in schools (10, I I ) . Thesc tended to give an impression that the tablets were commonly disliked by the children but, since at least one report stated that they were well received (12), the evidence cannot be regarded as of much value.

The main conclusions from the reports considcr- ed above seem to be that a number of people are likely to be sufficiently attracted by flavoured milk products to try them: that with children at least, either flavoured milks or flavoured tablets are likely to be consistently preferred to plain milk; that such products become somewhat less popular with time but that, even under conditions most likely to make the ‘consumer’ tire of them, some children at least will continue to take them.

It will be evident from the above discussion that there are several questions, concerned with flavour- ings for dairy products, which have still to be answered. Some experiments which were intended to answer somc of these queries will therefore be described.

I t has not been possible to make continuous trials with either tablets or flavoured milks, so that much evidence must depend on how well the ‘con- sumers’ concerned could cstimatc their future actions. This may be a serious criticism when ;I child, or even an adult, says that he would like a

flavoured product ‘occasionally’ but is of little importancc with certain other types of responses. A person giving an unqualified negative is more likely to be predicting his behaviour accurately.

Three cxpcriments were carried o u t , one on milk tablets and two on flavoured milks.

Experiments with Milk ‘I’ahlets A number of flavoured milk tablets of four difrercnt flavours were used. Thesc were identical in type with those which were used in the Ministry of Food experiments and which also have been used for short periods by a number of Local Education Authorities. The colour of the tablets gave no clue a s to their flavours.

Tablets were given t o sixty adults and 266 children. Each adult tried cach of the four flavours and then completed a questionnaire, showing what he thought of the tablcts and what flavours had been used. Some of the children were only given one tablet t o try. More than one method had to be used for obtaining their opinions. The teachers concerned were asked to obtain opinions by the methods best suited to their class, but with the less intelligent children results could only be obtained through the teachers themselves. I n consequence, the analysis of these data was made somewhat difficult and i t was evident that, in some cases, the children’s opinions were afrected by the teacher’s own views on these tablets.

A I> U I . T R 1:s P O N S E S The sixty adults who completed questionnaires were all well educated, a high proportion being graduates. Only sixteen (twenty-seven per cent) said they liked the tablets, while twenty-four (forty per cent) disliked them. Their opinions are shown fully in Table I .

Most of the adults who disliked the tablets stated that thcy were sickly. Several said that they would be greatly improved by strengthening the flavouring and certainly, as the Table shows, the flavours were not very easily recognired. The Banana flavoured tablets were most easily recognized and most popular with adults and children. I t is interesting to note that an intelligent eleven year old girl remarked ‘these don’t taste like real bananas but they are just like penny “banana-chews” ’. Twenty-

TABLE I To show the reactions of adults and school-children to flavoured milk tablets ’ Number correctly recognizing cach Ilabour

No. in I ‘no Banana : Cherry Caramel Huttcr- group ‘likc’ ‘neutral’ ’dislike‘ opinion‘ scotch

<>,, c, ,I O < , I-- . - .- ‘ 0 , ( 8

_. __.. _ _ _ ... -~ . - . .- .. - . - <;rnun A ddi , 60 21 10 40 23 39 5 3 X Children 266 15 3 22 0 , 55 3 2 II

38

two adults and twenty-six children called the Caramel tablets, 'Vanilla'. Eight adults and two children called the Cherry tablets 'Almond': in the opinion of many people, there is a distinct resem- blance between the flavour of almond essence and that of Maraschino cherries. Less understandable was the confusion between Butterscotch and Coffee. Eight adults made this mistake but the error was, more commonly made by the children.

One adult claimed that the flavours were easily recognizable once the name of the flavour had been disclosed. The writers felt that this was true and also that after some experience in tasting the tablets it became easier to recognize the flavours.

Some people were much better than others at identifying the flavours: one adult not only identified all four flavours correctly but also recog- nized that the tablets were made neither wholly of full cream nor of skimmed milk. It did not seem that those who liked the tablets were any better at identifying the flavours.

Women and girls did not seem to be better at recognizing flavours than were men or boys, but the former groups liked the tablets somewhat less, as Table I I shows.

TABLE I1 To show how the preferences for these tablets

differed between men and women, and between boys and girls

Group I preference* liking disliking dislikoing " 1 I NO. expressing a NO. NO.

Men ~ 25 14 1 1 44 Women 15 2 13 87 Boys 63 50 13 21 Girls I 93 66 21 30

*Not all who took part in these experiments cxprcssly statcd whether they liked the tablets or not. In addition some children did not put their names o n thcir reports.

C I I I L D K E S ' S ( 1 1' I S I 0 N S The tigures quoted in Table I seem to show that the press reports which condemned the issue of these tablets to schools in some counties were, to say the least , exaggerated.

The tablets were given to children in two primary schools and differences werc observed i n the re- sponses from the children at these two schools. At the school where only a small percentage of child- ren take school milk, a higher proportion of children liked the tablets than at the other school, whcre most of the children take school milk. The teachers at the latter school appeared rather scorn- ful of these tablets, and their attitude probably afected thc opinions given by the children.

There were slight differences between the opin- ions held by older and younger children. Of thc 139 children under nine years old who tried the tablets, thirty-six (twenty-six per cent) disliked them, while of the 127 between nine and twelve

~

I -

years old, only twenty-two (seventeen per cent) disliked them. These differences were not statisti- cally significant, but it is of interest that one Direc- tor of Education, in whose area the tablets had been used, stated that the tablets were not very popular i n infant schools but were twice as popular as liquid milk in secondary schools. This seems to confirm the slight trend noted above.

There was much less difference between the percentages of boys and girls liking the tablets than there was between men and women, for whom the difference was statistically significant (P;0.05). All the children involved in the experiment were under the age of twelve and i t would not be sur- prising if the marked changes in Preferences develop at a later age.

D l S C U S S l O N The experiment confirmed the conclusion of the Ministry of Food experiment (9), conducted with the same type of tablets in six small rural schools, that these tablets arc popular as a substi- tute for reconstituted dried milk. The Education Authorities, in whose areas milk tablets have been used recently, claimed that they were, on the whole, a success. One Education Oflicer remarked that, since these tablets had been issued in schools, it was reported that the sale of flavoured milk tablets from chemists' shops in some areas in the county has increased considerably. Another Director of Education claimed that the scheme was as success- ful as the school milk scheme had been at its inception. A third Director said that twenty per cent fewer children took the tablets than took liquid milk, but that most of the complaints about the tablets had come from one o r two schools.

I t appears that complaints were usually prompted by practical problcms in administering the tablets. I t was found that they could not be eaten quickly and that their consumption at intervals during the day caused difficulties in the schools. They also tended to make children thirsty, which raised problems in rural schools with a restricted supply of drinking water.

Although the tablets received adverse publicity it is obvious from this investigation that they are not gencrally unpopular, and that they could proLide an acceptable substitute for fresh milk.

Experiments with Fruit-Flavoured Milks C'O M P A K I S O S M I l . K S F R O M O N E M A N U t A C ' I U R E K

0 F I> I F F t R I( \ .I 1. L A V 0 U K 1- 1)

Four flavourings supplied by one nianufacturcr were added to separated milk in the recommended proportions. Forty-two adult members of a tasting panel wcrc than asked to give their opinions o n sterilixd and unsterilized samples of each of the four flavours. Pineapple and Strawberry flavours were used for the first test and Cherry and Rasp- berry flavours for the second. The flavourings were

39

TABLE I l l To show the reactions of adults and children to flavoured milk

~~~~

Number Number o:, who

Group conditions males females rating samples Lighting of of Average like

Experiment I Panel half with 21 21 4 4 44 . - - . . -- - - -. . - - - - - - - . . - . . - . - - _- . - - - _- . -

red lighting Experiment 11 Panel red lighting 20 20 3 .7 32 Experiment 11 Teachers daylight 7 3 4. I 33 Experiment I I School-children daylight 20 22 4.5 SX

Group Ycr Occus. No Alwcn.5 Chrriige h’rvrr Rr(rulor/.vOc(.u.v. Nevrr Yer A o Wol I r j Yrs N o Experiment I I Panel 64 17 19 0 45 55 2 52 45 90 5 5 - -.

Experiment I I Panel 68 18 15 0 38 62 3 55 4 2 75 10 I5 33 6 7 Experiment 1 1 ’ 1-each-

ers 10 40 50 10 60 30 70 30 0 50 50 Would you like

them every day ‘! , Y e v N o 74 26 - . - - . Experiment 11 I School- 90 7 3 - - -- - - ’ 63 37

chi Id ren

practically colourless but, for half the panel in each test, red artificial lighting was used to eliminate a n y visual cues that there might be. This was not only because the experimenters wished to know if the flavours were recognizable, but also because they did not want presuppositions such as ‘this is ;i Rlackcurrant flavour which 1 expect I shall like’ influencing the opinions obtained from the panel.

Each subject sampled a small quantity of each of four different flavoured milks at each test, and then answered a series of questions about his reactions to the samples. With the exception of the questions on what flavouring was being used, the answers to the other questions have been grouped and are shown i n Table 111.

some very novel flavours were mentioned but never Cherry itself.

Even in daylight the colourings were not any very accurate guide to the samples’ identity so that i t would seem, at first sight, as if the Strawberry was either the most skilfully manufactured or perhaps inherently the most unmistakable of these flavours. Again, however, it seems that i t may have been the presuppositions of the ‘consumers’ concerned which were of importance for it was found that, when thirteen people who had not taken part in the experiment were asked, nine said Strawberry would be the flavour they would first have expected, while the only other flavour frequently mentioned was Raspberry, by four persons.

Recognition of the fluvours I t was found that some flavours were recognized considerably more easily than others. Eighty pcr cent of the panel recognized the Strawberry flavour (in daylight), sixty-nine per ccnt recogni7ed Pine- apple, sixty-seven per cent the Raspberry and none recognized Cherry. All flavours wcre less easily recognized when artificial lighting was used to cut out the slight colour differences in the samples. Sterilizing did not seem to make thc flavours easy to distinguish, nor to make people like the flavours any the less. I f anything, the flavour of Pineapple was more easily recognized aftcr steriliing.

Eleven different possible flavours were suggested by the subjects when Pineapple and Strawberry flavours were presented and seventeen when Rasp- berry and Cherry wcre presented. With the last,

Like ! ikc Cu/r*qori. likc likc Dis- Ncu- Like very extrc-

cxtrc- very like tral much mcly mely much

Dis- Dis- ’

Figure 1. Rating scale used by adults for giving their opinions on flavoured milks

Poputuritj. o/ the, fluwurrd t)iilks Subjects had been asked to give a rating value for each sample, the scale used being that shown in Figure I . I n the subsequent analysis the arbitrary nurncrical values shown were allotted to each rating and an average value thus obtained for each sample. With such a large number of subjects significant

40

differences were found between the average ratings for the samples. In terms of the rating scale used, however, these differences were very small and for no sample did the average fall outside the ‘neutral’ category (3.5 to 4.5). In view of this, the results for the first test only (Pineapple and Strawberry flavours) are given against ‘Experiment I’ in Table 111. If very extreme likes and dislikes are found for one sample, more people might like it than they do another sample even though the average rating values for the two are identical (13). To counteract this, the percentage of subjects using any of the ‘like’ categories was also computed. Here, averaged for all four samples, forty-four per cent of the subjects said that they liked them.

Subjects were also asked whether they took plain milk as a drink: if they would prefer these flavoured milks to plain milk; if they would choose these flavoured milks for a drink and if they thought that they could get tired of them easily if they had them often. Percentages corresponding to each possible response are shown in Table 111. It can be seen that these samples would bc acceptable as a change to something like half the subjects, but that they would be more likely to be accepted as a product ‘on their own’ than as a rival to milk. Nearly all thought that they would get tired ofthem easily. There was no evidence that those who only drink milk occasionally, or those who do not take milk at all, would be more likely to take these flavoured milks than other people. The percentage of men liking the flavours was closely similar to the percentage of women liking them.

Subjects were asked to comment on the flavours used ; fifty-seven per cent stated that the samples were too sweet, six per cent that the flavours were too strong and five per cent that they were sickly. A variety of other comments occurred less fre- quently. It was noted in the recently published consumer survcy that the most frequent criticism of flavoured milks was that they were too sweet (6).

In order to obtain evidence on children’s reac- tions to these products, a small number of children at two separate schools were given some of the ‘Raspberry’ flavoured milk to taste. The results are shown in Table 1V. Criticisms of the product came mostly from girls.

(’0 h.1 I’ A K I S 0 N S I V li K A 1 .

0 I- F L A V O U R I: 0 M I I. K S F K 0 M M A S U F A ( - 1 . U K E R S

The foregoing experiments were limited to the flavourings supplied by one manufacturer and some of the criticisms made of these products might therefore not apply to others. With this in mind a number of firms were requested to supply flavour- ings. Raspberry and Strawberry proved the com- monest flavours, and five different makes of each were made up to the appropriate concentrations

TABLt . IV To show school-children’s reactions to the

‘Raspberry’ sterilized separated milk

Forty-one tried this flavoured milk, three refused (two girls, one boy) Of these:-

I did not like it (a girl) 1 did not care

ARC lo-: 10 1 I !. .%chon1 1

39 liked i t

of the thirty-nine: -

but

36 said they wotild l ike it always 3 said they would like it as a change 8 said j of a pint (the school milk allow-

ance) would he sickly Age 7 10 8. School 2

Do you like this flavoured milk? BOYS G I R I s Yes. No. Too sweet. Yes. I like it. Yes. Taste strawberry, It’sgood. I like it. Smashing. No. Too sweet.

It’s ;ill right. Yes.

Yes. No. Too sweet. Yes. Yes.

using non-heat-treated honiogenized milk. Samples of these were then judged by the panel.

I t was thought originally that one firm’s pro- ducts might prove to be the most popular irrespec- tive of flavour so that, from a subjective analysis of these flavours, certain general recommendations might be possible. As before, significant differences were found between the averaged ratings for the samples but, since a negative correlation was found when the ratings for the Strawberry and Raspberry flavours by each of the different firms were related, it was evident that no such recommendations would be possible. In view of this i t was thought best to consider the results together, as before, and the averaged results can be seen in Table 111, against the heading ‘Experiment 11’. This averaging is somewhat less justified than before, for the scatter of these average ratings is greater in this case, with averages occurring within both the ‘dislike’ and the ‘neutral’ categories.

The milks made up from these flavourings varied in colour from a hectic red to a relatively quiescent pink. In view of this, the panel were given the samples under red artificial light, as before. Both inen and women were again represented i n the panel, most having taken part in the earlier experi- ment. Half the panel gave opinions on Strawberry, and half on Raspberry flavours. Recognilion of’tke flavours h,. adults Only one person realized that all the flavours in one test were the same and he also stated correctly that the flavour used was Raspberry. Taking the judgements for all five samples, Raspberry flavours were considered to be Strawberry by thirty-three per cent of those who tasted them and to be Rasp- berry by twenty per cent: the Strawberry flavours were guessed to be Strawberry by seventeen per

It’s like strawberries.

41

cent and Raspberry by seventeen per cent. N o other flavours werc mentioned sufficiently often to bc important.

I t follows that thcse flavours werc not easy to recognize, although when asked, fifty-five per cent of the panel said that some of the ,fluvours werc familiar, but that they could not easily put a name to them. The apparent lack of success at recog- nizing these flavours, as compared with the flavours used in Experiment I , was not necessarily due to the flavours being less characteristic. It is true that sixty-four per cent ‘recognized’ Strawbcrry and thirty-one per cent ‘recognized’ Raspberry in the first experiment, when red artificial lights were used, but the panel had since been told what flavours were used in the first experiment. Thus they knew that they had not been very successful and their predisposition to give Raspberry and Strawberry as first choices was probably upset in consequence. This no doubt largely explains the less successful results in the later experiment which, for this reason, may well provide a truer indication of how characteristic these flavours really were. I t also suggests that Pineapple, the second most easily recognized flavour in Experiment I , is in fact one which is less easily mistaken for other flavours than is either Strawberry or Raspberry.

Popularit), qf’the,fiuvoured milks amongst adults The results of the other questions asked are shown in Table 111 against ‘Experiment 11’. The same questions were asked as before with, in addition, the query ‘would you like to take S pint of any of these flavoured milks?’ The results showed that more would like the flavoured milks as a drink occasionally (fifty-eight per cent) than would want them as a substitute for m i l k (thirty-eight per cent), but a smaller number would be prepared to take as much as J of a pint (thirty-three per cent) and only very few (ten per cent) would not get tired of them easily.

Although the average rating values for men and women are very similar, a smaller proportion of women would like any of these as a change from milk; would choose one as a drink; or would wish to take as much as + of a pint of any one flavour. These proportions are not, however, significantly smaller with so few subjects. The proportion who would get tired ofthem easily is similar for men and women.

In general, the panel members have a similar opinion of these flavours to those assessed in Experiment I . Since laboratory panels are often biased and down-grade samples by comparison with consumers (14, 15) a group of ten teachers were given the five Raspberry flavoured milks to try. I t can be seen from Table 1 1 1 that the percentage liking these flavours and the average rating value arc closely similar to those for the panel. The other queries are answered somewhat more

favourably by the teachers but these were mostly men and, when their opinions are compared with the men in the panel who judged the Raspberry flavours, no difference is apparent. It seems there- fore that the panel’s opinions are not unlike those givcn by a small outside group judging the samples undcr daylight conditions. I t was noted that, while again twenty per cent ‘recognized’ Raspberry, only sixteen per cent stated that these flavours were Strawberry; the colouring of the samples seems scarcely to have affected these assessments, perhaps partly because some of these teachers had previous- ly given their opinions on the flavoured, but colourless, milk tablets.

Popularit.,, qftliejlu vourcvl milks amongst children Finally, forty-two children were given these five different Raspberry and Strawberry flavoured milks to try. Somewhat simpler questions were asked and the children were given the samples, in daylight, ten children at a time. Elaborate precautions were taken to reduce ’cribbing’ to a minimum, apparently with reasonable success. The results are shown in Table 111.

As with the adults, significant differences be- tween the average ratings were found and, in fact, one firm’s flavours were the most popular both with the Raspberry and Strawberry milks. Although a positive correlation was found here when the ratings for these flavours were compared, paired according to their manufacturers, this correlation was not significant with only five pairs. The brand preferred by the children was not the one liked most, or even the one liked least, by the panel. The children themselves were not sufficiently articulate for it to be possible to learn why it was popular and, while a few members of the panel described it as ‘sickly’, this term was also applied to other firms’ products. Comparisons made later between these flavoured milks merely suggested that this firm’s product fell mid-way between the others for sweetness.

Again it was thought best to average the ratings together for all the Raspberry and Strawberry flavours even though these were scattered relatively widely within the categories ‘neutral’ and ‘like’. The two extreme categories were omitted from the rating scale presented to these children but the average ratings and the ‘percentage liking’ figures in Table I l l have been corrected to allow for this. Boys and girls are represented equally in the figures shown. There is little doubt that these flavours are more acceptable to children than to adults, while admitting that children are probably less capable of predicting their future actions and opinions than are adults. Therc is one further caution, however, in that some children would not take part in the experiments-one asked ‘have we got to take these medicines?-so that the success of these flavours would be overcstimated if these results are thought

42

to be typical. Unlike the panel and the teachers, only those children who would willingly try the samples are here considered.

Little could be learnt from the children's com- ments on 'what they did not like' about 'the one they liked the least' and thcre was no evidence of any greater than usual enthusiasm amongst the few children (all girls) who rarely or never drink plain milk. There was a significant tendency (P)0.05) for girls to like the samples less than did boys at all ages, when the ratings given by boys and girls are compared. Within the age range considered (seven to eleven), boys seemed to like them less with increasing age: with girls no effect of age on such liking is apparent.

Rpcognilion of'llic).flo w i i r s b.r chilili~en Raspberry was 'recognized' by sixteen per cent and called 'Strawberry' by fourteen per cent: as with the adults, Strawberry was less easily 'recog- nized' (eleven per cent) and i t was considered to be Raspberry by thirteen per cent. N o other flavours were mentioned frequently. Since presuppositions (and pink colouring) were again likely to be important the order of the opinions offercd was considered. The five samples of each flavour wcre not presented in the same order to all children but it was noticed that, when Raspberry was presentcd, the flavour lirst guessed was usually Strawberry (by thirty-five per cent) with Raspberry as the most frequent guess for the second sample given (thirty- nine per cent). When Strawberry was prescntcd the first sample was again most usually guessed to be Strawberry (thirty-seven per cent) with Raspberry as the most frequent guess for the second sample (twenty-six per cent). The finding that Raspberry was, as a whole, more frequently recognizcd than Strawberry, is a consequence of taking all opinions together for each set of samples.

The experiments carried out have now all been described. Had one firm proved to make the most universally popular flavours, a series of different flavours by this one firm would havc been corn- pared. The results found suggest that this is not worth while and data from other surveys ( 5 , 6, 16) do not agree well when listing relative prefer- ences for different flavours, o r at least only in find- ing Strawberry to be the most popular fruit flavour. Preferences amongst flavours are often considered to be regional and will, as already considered, be certain to depend to some extent on the con- sumers' presuppositions, with the actual flavours as a somewhat secondary consideration.

Discussion As stated in the introduction to this papcr, these results appear to conflict in some rcspects with those from a recently published survey (6). It was thcre found that 87.5 per cent of adults and 92.0 per cent of children liked flavoured milk, these

percentages being almost twice as high as those reported here. The difference is primarily one of method, however, for in that survey the consumers were asked if they liked any of' the five different fruit flavoured samples given to them and they were allowed to reply either 'yes' or 'no'. If the data from cach of the experiments reported here arc examined to see how many people liked ont of the samples given to them, and if half these judges who give a highest opinion of 'neutral' are also considered within the new 'yes like' category, a very dimerent result is obtained. Thus ninety-eight per cent of the children (and seventy-four per cent of the adults) can now be said to 'like' flavoured milk, if the results for all the experiments are averaged together. I f the opinions on sterilixd milks are omitted to make a fairer comparison, the percentage for adults is higher still (eighty-five per cent), so that any remain- ing difference between ' the results c'in easily be accounted for in terms of the tendency commonly found for 'panel' testing to produce somewhat critical opinions (14, 15).

The question remains ;is to whether it is more true to st2tc from these dstn that some thirty-six per cent of adults and some fifty-eight per cent of children like flavoured milk, as has been stated here, o r that some eighty-five per cent ofadillts and some ninety-eight p=r cent of children like i t , as the method used i n the recent market survey would lead us to believe. In the writers'opinion thc method they have chosen for stating their results is the less misleading. Thus, while in t h e market survey described we have no evidence as to whiit was thought of four of the samplcs given, in the rcsearch described here we can have a bettcr idea of what was thought, on average, of each sample in the group: considcrcd i n these terms, only a rclativcly small number of consumers liked them. The higher percentage can then only fairly be said to apply either if all the samples are liked or, since evidence from the experiments described shows this would not generally be true, that the consumer would always be lucky enough to pick first time the one he would have liked most if he had tried several. Since this is improbable, and i t is also improbable that he would keep on trying flavoured milks if he disliked his first one, the method which gives the lower per- centage seems to nfford the more useful criterion of popularity.

It is also known that absolute judgements of this kind are not stable (17, 18). Thus, if several samples havc to bc judged together, the most liked sample or thc least disliked sample may be given an unduly favourable rating because it is contrasted with the others. The on ly real solution to the difficulty is to request an opinion on only one sample (19) but, since this has obvious disadvan- tages, it is safer to take an average opinion for all samples as has been done i n the experiments des- cribed here.

43

Conclusions Despite the quantity of flavoured milk tablets recently issued to schools, flavoured milk is at present of more general interest to the dairy industry. It is probable that attempts will be made to promote the sales of flavoured milks and the results of these few experiments do suggest that, as far as fruit-flavoured milks are concerned, these may be popular as an occasional drink with a limit- ed proportion of consumers. Women probably like them less than do men, and girls certainly less than do boys; however, it is with children that they are most likely to be popular.

They would probably be more popular if they could be made to be less sweet and perhaps also if they could be more characteristic of the flavour they are supposed to represent. It is fair to point out, however, that with any food, recognition of flavours under test conditions is never an easy task (20).

From these tests it would seem that a smaller proportion of both adults and children are pre- pared to take flavoured milk, than already take plain milk (21). In addition, more said that they would take flavoured milk as a drink in itself, than stated they would prefer it to milk. It seems therefore that, since an extra charge for flavouring presumably would emphasize this apparent pre- ference for plain milk, it might be well to commend this type of product to the public as a drink ‘on its own’, rather than as a rival to milk.

A C K N O W L E D G E M E N T S The authors wish to thank all those who helped in this work, either by supplying material or by taking

part in the experiments. In particular, thanks are due to the Director of Education, Mr. P. S. Taylor, and the Head Teachers, Mr. B. E. Payton and Miss E. V. Laskey, who gave permission to test children in their schools. The assistance of other Directors of Education who gave details of the ‘success’ of flavoured milk tablets in their areas, and of the Ministry of Education, was much appreciated. The authors also wish to thank Messrs. Horlicks Ltd. for supplying the flavoured milk tablets used in the experiments; Messrs. H. W. Carter & Co. Ltd., for providing details of some of their market research on flavoured milk; Mr. L. T. Wilkins for much useful advice; and Mrs. E. M. C. Lewis, Mr. H. C. W. Stockbridge, Mr. B. Chambers, Mr. D. H. Holding, Miss E. M. Hurle and Mr. L. D. R. Turner for organizing and administering some of the experiments.

REFERENCES 1. ‘Editorial’ on flavoured milks. Dairy Ind. 20, 303, 1955. 2. Wright, N. C. Bull. Hannah Dairy Inst. No. 7, 1936. 3 Charley V Dairy Ind 1 I9 1936. 4: ‘Nationh Milk Publicky’Nehs’. Milk Ind. 36, (No. 5), 49. 1955. 5. ‘National Milk Publicity News’. Milk Ind. 36, (No. 6), 54, 1955. 6. Charley V. L. S. J. SOC. Dairy Tech. 8 I40 1955. 7. Carter & Co. Ltd. Private communicaiion giving details of technique

8. Article by ‘Maison Flamant’ Technical staff. Dairy Eng.. 72, 233, 1955. 9. Johnson, G. R. and Ashworth, A. R. G. ‘Flavoured Milk Tablets’,

and results from a market survey on flavoured milk.

Ministry of Food unpublished report. 1954. 10. ‘Press’ reports quoted in Milk Ind. 36 (No. 5) , 72 and 91, 1955. 11 . Report in Daily Herald, 21st April, 1955. 12. Report in Derby Evening Telegraph, 2nd May, 1955. 13. Thurstone, L. L. Psychometr. Monogr. Nos. 23 and 25, 1945. 14. Hopkinson, R. G. D.S.I.R. Building Res. Stat. Garston, Herts.

15. Prentice, J.’H. and Sheppard, D. J. Sci. Fd. Agric., 6, 24, I955 16. Shields, F. N. Dairy Eng., 72, 251, 1955. 17 Sheppard D . J. Dairy Res. 19. 348 1952. 18: Sheppard’ D. Quart. I. exp.’Psychoi. 5 1 1953. 19. Sbeppard: D . Lab. Practice, 3,53 and >Oj, 1954. 20. Rengtsson, K. and Helm, E. Wallerstein Labs. Commun., 9, 171, 1946. 21. Sheppard, D . and Carrinci, S. D .

Note E.387 1952.

Dairy Ind., 20, 653, 1955.

DATES OF FUTURE GENERAL MEETINGS

T U E S D A Y , 20th MARCH, 1956 in Dairying, Shinfield, Nr. Reading. Meeting in conjunction with the Midland Section at Cadbury’s Factory, Bourneville, Nr. Birmingham. programme:-paper and tour of Institute.

Programme:-Tour of factory and paper on ‘High Temperature Pasteurization’, by Dr. L. F. L. Clegg.

MONDAY, 22nd OCTOBER, 1 9 5 6 Annual General Meeting.

T U E S D A Y , 10th J U L Y , 1956 T U E S D A Y , 11th J A N U A R Y , 1957 Meeting at the National Institute for the Research In London. Papers.