Children's food is one of the fastest growing segments of the food industry but many companies avoid doing research with children because they feel they cannot get significant feedback from the young consumers, says Dr Melanie Turner at Australian firm Sensory Solutions.

"Yet we know that more than 65 per cent of household purchases have input from children so it is clear that a child's opinions are very influential," she told AP-Foodtechnology.com.

Many companies use consumer panels made up of parents to gauge the reaction to their products by those responsible for purchasing. But if a child does not like a product, parents will not repeat the purchase, points out Dr Turner.

"You need the input from the child to really assess liking for the product," she said.

Dr Turner says sensory research, a science that evaluates consumer attitudes to foods and other products, can be done with children as young as four months old.

Research into babies' facial expressions found that they can discriminate between foods even at four months," she said.

For four-year-olds, researchers can use a modified ranking procedure to find out which foods children like best. Above eight years old, children have more opinions and can begin to explain why the like or dislike a product.

"Between 80 and 90 per cent of products that go to launch fail. But often neither adults nor children are brought in to give their opinions during the product development," added Dr Turner.

This tendency is particularly evident in Asia-Pacific markets, where sensory research is still some way behind Europe and the US, she said. However Sensory Solutions, which has recently set up an office in Singapore, is expecting to see a major increase in demand for this kind of research as companies look to differentiate their products.

"There are so many me-too products in Asia at the moment but sensory research will allow companies to better respond to consumer choice and allow for more variation," said Dr Turner.

With rising concern about obesity in children, and rising incomes allowing Asia's parents to spend more on their children, development of healthier, children-specific foods is set to increase. A report from the UK-based Centre for Food & Health Studies suggests that the kids food market is valued at over US$300 billion worldwide.

Dr Melanie Turner will be speaking on innovation and the NPD process using children at a seminar organized by Sensory Solutions in Sydney tomorrow.