The purpose of this study was to identify and analyze consumer choices and service quality in university canteens in Warsaw. Our study consists of two parts. The first part of our research was conducted using a sample of 1250 adult respondents in 25 university canteens located at five higher education institutions. The reasons and frequency for using canteens, types of selected dishes and opinions on a given catering facility management system were analyzed. The second part of the study was conducted as an inspection to assess internal control and reliability of information. The respondents’ opinions are not in line with inspection assessments. This may be due to the fact that students do not pay attention to the quality of services in university canteens or have little knowledge about service, quality of services or hygiene aspects. For a detailed analysis of consumer choices and service quality assessment, we used Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) test and multi-dimensional cluster analysis. We identified four clusters regarding the type of meals and consumed frequency of consumption in university canteens, and five profiles in relation to evaluation of canteen interior, service and menu. In the correspondence analysis performed using the multidimensional Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA) method, we identified five clusters of consumers based on nine features, i.e., canteen location, frequency of using the canteen, gender of respondents, dwelling place, financial status of respondents. Our research on the functioning of university canteens is one of the first not only in Poland, but also in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. The evaluation of the quality of nutrition in canteens should be continued in order to prevent diet-related diseases. Based on the results of our research, we postulate to introduce an evaluation guide for university canteens taking into account various aspects of services.

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The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of aqueous extracts of stinging nettle (Urtica dioica L.) and field horsetail (Equisetum arvense L.) plants on the synthesis of compounds with antioxidant properties in germinating seeds. The seeds of alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.), dining lentil (Lens culinaris L.), mung bean (Vigna radiata L.) and quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.) were germinated for 72 hours. Germinating seeds were imbibed and daily soaked in aqueous stinging nettle and field horsetail plant extracts. We studied the influence of elicitation on the amount of dry matter, anthocyanins, leucoanthocyanins and catechins as well as vitamin C, P and antioxidant activity in germinated seeds. During germination, 34.21% more intense synthesis of anthocyanins occurred in quinoa seeds treated with stinging nettle extract solutions compared with those treated with water only. Under the influence of extracts, the content of vitamin C significantly increased only in lentils, treated with stinging nettle extract by 40.65 mg 100 g -1 fresh weight (FW) and field horsetail extract by 42.48 mg 100 g -1 FW, while in mung beans the increase was noticed after treatment with field horsetail extract (by 62.4 mg 100 g -1 ). Plant extract solutions did not have statistically significant impact on vitamin P (rutin) accumulation in germinated seeds. However, a trend towards P increase was observed in all germinated seeds, except for alfalfa. Germinated alfalfa seeds and mung beans were characterized by the highest antioxidant activity.