Perception of Australian consumers on resin canal discouloration (RCD) in mango

Resin canal discolouration (RCD) is a fruit quality defect found in Australian mangoes, especially on Kensington Pride (KP) cultivar. It occurs sporadically, showing up as red-brown resin canals that form networks through the flesh and irregular brown mottling across the skin. Information on its influence on consumers' willingness to purchase and eat mango fruit with RCD is lacking. Thus, this study sought to evaluate the impact of RCD on consumer's perceptions on fruit quality and their decision to buy and eat mango fruit. We surveyed 135 mango consumers in three supermarkets in Sydney, during the 2017 mango season. The majority of the consumers (89%) were regular buyers of 1-2 mango fruits (45%) per week. They preferred to buy KP (36%) and B74 (32%) mango cultivars because of their taste (50%), aroma (19%) and fruit colour (18%). Moreover, consumers familiar with RCD symptoms observed that there was an increasing occurrence of RCD in that current year. The majority of the consumers stated they would be unwilling (87%) to purchase fruit that had RCD symptoms in the store. However, consumers (82%) who had bought fruit that developed RCD symptoms at home still ate the fruit after removing the affected portion of the fruit. Store retailers reported that RCD caused < 5% of fruit loss. This preliminary study showed that RCD can significantly change consumers' perception of mango quality and influences their purchasing behaviour.