Abstract

RIBEIRO, Maria Isabel; FERNANDES, António; CABO, Paula  and  MATOS, Alda. Nutritional and technological quality of food in the consumer's perspective. Rev. de Ciências Agrárias [online]. 2017, vol.40, n.spe, pp.341-350. ISSN 0871-018X.  https://doi.org/10.19084/RCA16233.

The quality and safety of food are important factors in the consumers’ decision making. This work aims to know the consumers’ perception regarding the nutritional and technological quality of food products and to know their buying habits. This is an observational, descriptive and cross-sectional study that was based on a questionnaire. Data collection was conducted from April to July 2015 in three distribution stores from Bragança County. In total, 200 individuals participated in this study, of which 52.5% were female. Most were aged between 18 and 24 years (50.5%), were married or living in a stable relationship (72.5%), had as educational achievement, secondary education (52.5%) and had a net monthly income of less than € 1,000 (81%). Most consumers’ take into account the nutritional value of the food products consumed (63.5%), while only 43.2% is accustomed to evaluate the nutrition table. What draws the most attention of consumers on the label is the validity (51%), ingredients (31.7%), nutritional table (16.1%) and, finally, the brand (8%). Usually, in the consumers’ view, most important factors in a purchase related to the quality of a product are the nutrition (50.8%), hygiene (31.7%) and price (23.1%), For the consumer, technologies are important and contribute to increase the nutritional value of food products (53.5%), highlighting the irradiation (26.9%), the additives and preservatives (20.3%) and drying (15.3%) as the most damaging from a nutritional point of view. The consumer obtains higher nutritional quality, health and technology in food products in food groups like fruits (61.4%), legumes (57.7%) and cereals (41.6%). Consumers are, currently, more demanding about the food products quality. In this research, factors like "nutrition" and "hygiene" stand out.

Keywords : Food; Consumer; Nutrition; Quality; Technology.

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