Rationale: Milk is one of the main staples of the Algerian daily diet along with bread, semolina and sugar. The objective of this study was to describe the consumption of milk and milk products in a population of Algerians. Methods: The study is based on a survey of 750 consumers in the Tebessa region (east of Algeria). The survey sheet included general questions on the subject, consumption of dairy products and their share in income, purchase of dairy products, health status and daily calcium intake. The Epi-Info software 3.2.4. was used for data processing. The significant threshold used was 0.05. Results: The average age of consumers was 35.8±13.9 years old (58.4% women). The share of the purchase of dairy products was 34.3±12.3% compared to other food products purchased at the household level. Semiskimmed milk was the most consumed (86.1%). The subjects consumed dairy products much more during the winter (72.0%) and very little during the summer (6.0%). Almost half (48.8%) consumed milk and dairy products regularly. Most (41.9%) indicated that they were small consumers of dairy products, 31.6% as average consumers and 26.5% heavy consumers. The subjects covered dairy products in terms of price, hygiene, taste, nutritional value, brand and packaging for the purchase of dairy products (p<0.05). The daily calcium intake (854.4±364.5 mg/day) was close to the recommendations of 900 mg/day. No difference was noted by genus or by type of habitat (p<0.05).
Conclusion:Milk occupies an important place in the diet of Algerians, because it is the cheapest source of protein, vitamins and calcium. References: Bencharif A. 2001. Strat egies des acteurs de la fili ere lait en Alg erie : etats des lieux et probl ematiques. Options M editerran eennes, S erie B, Etudes et Recherches, n o 32, p. 25-45. Disclosure of Interest: None declared.
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