The acceptability, consumption frequency of fruits and vegetables (F&V), and the reasons for consuming these foods were studied. A total of 370 housewives carried out different tests: Sensory Acceptability, Consumption Frequency, Free Listing (FL), and Check All That Apply (CATA). In these tests, the household income (HI) of the housewives was considered. Of the 25 fruits and 27 vegetables included in the acceptability test, more than 40% had average values greater than or equal to 7 for both HI, low income (LI) and middle income (MI). In general, F&V had more mentions in low consumption frequency categories. Only the consumption frequency of three fruits and two vegetables was influenced by HI. The acceptability patterns in both foods do not always correspond to their frequency of consumption. CATA question showed that factors related to habits, practicality and availability, in addition to sensory acceptability, influenced the consumption of these foods in LI and MI populations.
Practical applications
The use of questionnaires and CATA methodology permitted to know about F&V consumption in the LI and MI Argentinian population. The information about the reasons for the low consumption of F&V in both incomes sectors could complement data obtained through existing surveys and provide insight to motivate consumption through changes in current consumer promotion campaigns.
Willingness to pay (WTP) and sensory acceptability for minimally processed (MP) vegetables were studied. A total of 116 participants of two different household incomes (HI) were considered. Two types of preparations (bags with whole vegetables and trays with MP vegetables), and two types of presentations (mix vegetables for soup and mix vegetables for salad), were evaluated. Low income (LI) participants offered more money in general than the medium-high income (MI) participants. However, the offers of the two preparations (soup and salad) did not show significant differences. The 4 samples (two preparations: soup and salad; and two presentations: bags and trays) had good sensory acceptability with values between 6.5 and 8.3, on a scale of 1-9. MI consumers had higher acceptability for mixed vegetables for soup than for salad vegetables; however, LI participants showed no difference between the types of preparation, observing for both samples (soup and salad) high acceptability. For both HI, Check All That Apply (CATA) questions showed that phrases such as “It is unreliable” and “I distrust how it was prepared” were associated with the trays, while the phrase “It takes time to prepare or cook” was associated with bags.
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