Finding the sweet spot: How sensory cues shape consumer perceptions of snack bars

Consumers are shifting from three daily meals to more frequent eating episodes, including snacking. Understanding how sensory cues shape perceptions of snack bars is increasingly important. This study examined the relationships between sensory properties, nutritional quality (Nutri-Score), and consumer perceptions of liking, healthiness, and naturalness in 30 commercially available snack bars among primarily young female university students. A sensory assessment was completed with untrained panellists ( n = 107), followed by a consumer study ( n = 101) that evaluated liking, perceived healthiness, and naturalness using blinded samples. Partial least squares regression (PLSR) revealed that mainly sweetness, crunchiness, and fattiness of snack bars were positively related to liking but negatively related to perceived healthiness. Hardness and overall flavour were positively associated with both perceptions, indicating potential convergence between sensory drivers of liking and perceived healthiness. Pearson correlation analysis showed that perceived healthiness and naturalness were strongly correlated ( r = 0.96), whereas perceived healthiness was moderately correlated with nutritional quality ( r = 0.49), indicating that sensory heuristics do not reliably signal health. Classification of snack bars by median splits of liking and perceived healthiness revealed that only one snack bar combined both higher liking and perceived healthiness with a Nutri-Score B, demonstrating that a potential ‘sweet spot’ that balances indulgence and healthiness for snack bars is achievable, but rare. Overall, these findings highlight the importance of sensory design in shaping consumer perceptions and demonstrate opportunities to better align liking, perceived healthiness, and nutritional quality in snack bar development.