CONSUMER ACCEPTANCE TESTING OF GENETICALLY IMPROVED FARMED TILAPIA (GIFT)  

Genetically Improved Farmed Tilapia (GIFT) is one of the significant outputs from the collaboration between the Department of Fisheries, Malaysia and WorldFish. From this project, GIFT broodstock has been disseminated to many countries where they were well-received by the consumers. However the consumers in Malaysia are perceived to prefer red tilapia over GIFT tilapia. This statement is backed up by the recent findings from the GIFT tilapia value chain analysis study which indicated that local farmers from the three top producing tilapia states in Malaysia were not favouring GIFT because of the low demand from the consumers. Hence a survey was conducted out during the Malaysia Agriculture, Horticulture and Agro-Tourism Exposition (MAHA) in December 2016 to evaluate the consumers' acceptance of GIFT Tilapia. A sensory evaluation acceptance test was carried out on ninety nine (99) randomly selected individuals from different socio-economic backgrounds among MAHA patrons, using a 7-point hedonic scale (extremely dislike (0) to extremely like (7)) to determine the level of acceptance for 4 main attributes of GIFT (taste, odour, texture and overall appearance). In general, more than 80% of the consumers liked all of the GIFT attributes tested. The attributes of GIFT that were liked by the consumers were the texture (N=96, 97%) odour (N=89, 90%) followed by, appearance (N=87, 88%), and taste of GIFT (N=80, 81%) respectively. The texture of GIFT was described as tender yet firm, and pulled-off from the bones easily. Among the attributes, taste recorded the lowest liked percentages (81%) and highest dislike percentages (7%). All participated consumers (100%) were not bothered with the grey-green coloured skin of the GIFT tilapia. According to the consumers, they bought red tilapia because it was easily available in the market compared to GIFT. A small percentages (<5%) of the consumers did not consume GIFT believing that they were being cultured in sewage treatment ponds. A few of the Muslim consumers were doubtful of the feed used on the GIFT. The results from this study indicates that the main impediment to GIFT consumption is the non-familiarity and the lack of availability to the Malaysian consumers. Promotion on GIFT Tilapia to farmers and consumers in Malaysia could overcome the current lack of demand of GIFT. The production of GIFT from MyGAP certified farms should be labelled as such to increase the consumers' confidence towards the quality of GIFT tilapia.