Abstract

Recently, according to increase in production of pond snails resulting from the widespread organic farming, organic farmers are showing a lot of interests in the promotion of consumption and extending the market of pond snails. This study was performed to suggest the process of product development of the ready-to-eat pond-snail Mandu as a health food, to show the results of market test of the pilot product, and to investigate the change of the sensory characteristics during storage periods. For the market test of pond-snail Mandu, the survey was developed and delivered to consumers. The questionnaire consisted of 3 parts such as respondents demographic characteristics, customer's perception of pond-snail Mandu before tasting, and customer's perception of that after tasting. And the market test was carried out with university students, welfare institution residents and apartment residents in the Seoul and Gyeonggi areas. As a result of the test, the most important purchasing factors were determined in the order of taste (49.5%), hygienic quality (12.5%), nutritional value (10%) and price (9%). And only 4.2% of respondents selected brand name as an important purchasing factor. After tasting pondsnail Mandu, consumers had suggested the better taste (t = 6.986, p < 0.000) and price (t = 2.082, p < 0.05) than those of before tasting. In response to favorable impression of pond-snail Mandu, 54.5% of total respondents evaluated positively. The favorable impressions came from iron-rich Mandu (27.6%), high protein and nutritious Mandu (24.4%), calcium-rich Mandu (17.9%), diet Mandu (13.3%), and delicious Mandu (12.5%) respectively. Sensory characteristics of pond-snail Mandu were evaluated by professional panels in terms of the softness of Mandu skin, chewiness, moistness, toothpacking, color, aroma, saltiness, and degree of plain, taste, and aftertaste. The evaluation of sensory characteristics on a 7-point scale, showed that softness of mandu skin (4.44) and aftertaste (4.11) got a low scores. The statistical difference of the tastes (p > 0.05) was not founded by storage period of 7, 14, 21 and 28 days. Based on the result, the improvement of these characteristics are desired in developing the pond-snail Mandu. Research method applied to this study can be useful for developing a new product.

• Keywords: market test; product development; ready-to-eat pond-snail mandu; determinants of mandu; sensory evaluation