URUGUAYAN CONSUMERS' PERCEPTION OF FUNCTIONAL FOODS

As the markets for functional foods increase, studying and understanding consumers' perception of functional foods is essential to develop products that have a good consumer acceptance. The objective of this work was to provide a first insight into Uruguayan consumers' perception of functional foods. A survey with 200 consumers was performed. The participants were not familiar with the term “functional food,” as only 37% related the term with the real concept behind it. However, the participants showed a positive attitude toward the functional foods concept. Preferred areas of action of functional foods at a generic level were not reflected in the ratings of perceived healthiness and willingness to try yogurt with different enrichments, probably because they did not associate the components with their health effect. These results suggest that the use of health claims would be essential to ensure the success of functional foods. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS Cardiovascular diseases, cancer and the immune system are regarded as the preferred areas of action of functional foods. Preferred health claims varied with gender and age. Women seemed to be more concerned than men about gut health and osteoporosis. Regarding the influence of age, younger people tend to emphasize disease-preventing claims, while older people tend to give more importance to short-term effects on health. These results suggest that different health claims could be attractive to different market segments, and therefore, consumer research is necessary to determine which health claims could be used according to which segment of the market the product is addressed to.

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