No abstract

No abstract

The food industry has been engaged to launch products with health attributes in response to the increase of consumer awareness. In Brazil, academia has also endeavored to contribute to the technical feasibility and sensory acceptance of healthier foods. Due the high costs to develop, launch and market a product, it is important to previously understand consumer perception and attitude. Two methodologies used to explore consumer attitudes towards a food are projective techniques and conjoint analysis. The purpose of this dissertation was to conduct empirical studies on how individuals deal with healthful attributes in frozen burger. Three studies were conducted with different but complementary goals. In the first, via projective technique of word association, it was identified the most relevant categories for consumers considering the traditional burger and healthier burgers: Healthful, Good Taste, Quality/Flavor Apprehension and Fat/Calorie. In the second study, also based on a projective technique (completion test), it was found that the most important categories in the purchase of frozen burgers in general were related to brand, price, taste and healthiness. In the third study, the conjoint analysis revealed that the attribute Claim had more relevance to the participants than the Price. Levels of Claim were a traditional burger (no claim), a second with flavor appeal (tasty) and a third as the healthier (source of fibers). Of these, the traditional was preferred by consumers and the source of fibers one was rejected. In market simulations, the participation of the source of fibers burger was low, but there was evidence of a niche to be explored. The general conclusion is that there is a potential niche of consumers of frozen burger with healthful attributes. However, in the case of this meat product, the traditional and taste qualities are still highly valued even among the healthier versions, and sensory importance should not be neglected by researchers and food industries. The price, in turn, was considered secondary in the case of frozen burger. Regarding the evaluation of the methods used, it was found that qualitative and statistical techniques contributed to these consumer studies, identifying attributes that need attention to the development of new products and marketing strategies.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to assess consumers' perception of a typical Brazilian food in its familiar and innovative versions through a survey combined with textual analysis.Design/methodology/approachThe study collected consumers’ data (N = 476) via survey and conducted two textual analysis – similitude and descending hierarchical classification (DHC) – using the Iramuteq software. In order to evaluate the consumers’ perception, traditional cheese breads (familiar) and cheese breads with carrots (innovative) were used. The consumers are from Central-West Brazil and had diverse socioeconomic status.FindingsSimilitude analysis showed that the familiar product presented mostly neutral or positive characteristics. The DHC analysis provided three relevant classes for the traditional cheese bread (familiar) product, considering the consumers’ perceptions and socioeconomic status. For the innovative product, the similitude analysis showed negative associations with the food (food neophobia), but there are also positive characteristics to be explored (food neophilia). Neophobia was attributed to hedonic aspects, e.g. doubts about the taste approval. Neophilia was related to normative aspects, e.g. the product's health benefits.Research limitations/implicationsThe results are exploratory and, therefore, cannot be generalized, but can arise insights to different food products. It was observed that the chosen method can be useful to access the consumer's perception and could be replicated in other cultures and regarding different products.Practical implicationsFood neophobia can be avoided by highlighting hedonic aspects and food neophilia can be activate via normative attributes, so the launch of an innovative food should be accompanied by consumer-oriented marketing strategies.Originality/valueThe present study brings relevant insights regarding food neophobia and neophilia and uses a combination of survey with textual analysis.

PurposeSustainable food consumption is crucial to protect the environment and to promote a better quality of life. Our study analyses and compares the causes, perceived consequences of food waste and practices to mitigate it in supermarkets and restaurants.Design/methodology/approachWe conducted 17 semi-structured interviews with managers or other responsible persons with mastery of information about food waste of restaurants (self-service and à la carte) and supermarkets. The data were analysed via thematic content analysis.FindingsThe leading causes of food waste for the interviewed supermarkets and restaurants were improper handling by the staff, ineffective stock control management and lack of employee training. Supermarkets perceived other causes such as inadequate food packaging, refrigeration and temperature issues and dishonesty of carriers. The perceived consequences of food waste were mainly related to the economic aspect. Regarding adopting practices to reduce waste, some highlights are employee training, waste management by a specialized employee, assertive demand forecasting, meal preparation in the store and food donation. Just the supermarkets employ price reduction as a practice to reduce food waste. We concluded that, in general, supermarkets perceive more causes for waste than restaurants but do not necessarily present practices to mitigate these additional causes.Originality/valueThis research expanded the scope of studies about food waste and reveals procedures that those in charge can implement to reduce food waste. Our study analysed the causes, practices and consequences of food waste in two types of food channels (supermarkets and restaurants, in different formats). The literature does not clearly disclose aspects assigned to different food marketing channels, especially in emerging economies.

A crise relacionada à covid-19 trouxe mudanças em diversos contextos, incluindo no alimentar. Serviços de alimentação foram fortemente impactados pela restrição abrupta de funcionamento do comércio. Todavia, as Redes Alimentares Alternativas (RAA) se mostraram resilientes neste processo. Para entender melhor esta questão, foram avaliados dois casos de RAA, sendo uma Comunidade que Sustenta a Agricultura (CSA) e um Clube de Compras (CC) de alimentos sustentáveis, ambos no Distrito Federal (Brasil). Os casos se configuram como sistemas que operam de formas diferentes, mas tendo em comum a promoção de acesso semanal a alimentos saudáveis e provenientes da agricultura familiar. No enfrentamento ao isolamento social trazido pela pandemia, foi possível verificar que ambos os casos precisaram se adaptar. Nos dois casos, foram incluídas medidas de saúde e segurança, o que demandou ajustes nas operações. Ainda, na CSA foi necessário, por exemplo, alterar o local de encontro para coleta dos produtos, e no CC foi interrompida a venda a não associados. Apesar das mudanças, nenhum dos sistemas, diferentemente de modelos de negócios alimentares convencionais, sofreu impacto negativo no desempenho econômico ou mudança do perfil de produto obtido pelos consumidores. Houve, na verdade, um aumento da demanda dos consumidores, nos dois casos, garantindo renda aos produtores envolvidos e o acesso a alimentos saudáveis pelos consumidores. Assim, a compreensão das características de RAA forneceu subsídios importantes para o favorecimento da relação produtor-consumidor também em momentos de crise como a da pandemia de covid-19.

The question that guided this work was if health claims should receive special attention by evaluating if these claims stand as a relevant attribute to consumers. Thereby, the goal of this work is to explore how consumers deal with different food product attributes, including health claims, in frozen burgers (Study 1), and milk desserts (Study 2) via conjoint analysis (CA). In Study 1, the ranking‐based CA revealed that the attribute “Claim” is more relevant than “Price” and that the Claim level of “Source of Fibres” in burgers is rejected by consumers. In Study 2, the rating‐based CA also reveals “Claim” as the most valued attribute in milk desserts, and consumers reject the Claim level of “Antioxidants” but are favorable to “Fiber”. As conclusions, the claim is the most important attribute in both cases. Still, while consumers did not respond positively regarding frozen burgers with health attributes, there was a positive asset for milk desserts. Practical Applications The manuscript brings a contribution to the field of food consumer studies by assessing claim attributes in different ways in terms of products, designs, and conjoint methods. The information obtained in this study brings useful insights regarding the importance of claims in consumer preference. One example is the discussions regarding some cautions that food industries should have regarding functional claims, as some levels were rejected in both carriers. Through this study, it is possible to disseminate the importance of gaining understandings regarding claims in functional foods, and especially regarding Brazilian consumers.