Slavica Grujic, Radoslav Grujic and Mirjana Grujicic
Accepted Abstracts: J Nutr Food Sci
The aim of this study was to identify general characteristics of young consumers regarding their interest for food quality, nutrition and new food products. A survey was carried out using printed form with list of 12 questions on food preference, food habits, nutrition and labelling, with offered yes/no answers. Young consumers were recruited from three urban areas? secondary schools (360 respondents) and universities (360 respondents). Participants provided information regarding their gender, age, height, weight, health, economic status. Data obtained were analyzed crossing the groups of consumers regarding: (i) total observed population; (ii) gender M-group and F-group; (iii) age classes defined as adolescents (16.7±0.6 years) P-group, and young adults (22.1±1.7 years) S-group; with the other variables offered in the questionnaire. The Chi-square Analysis was performed to analyse data (p<0.05). It was found that tested population of consumers expressed statistically significant interest (p<0.05) for the selected set of information. Analyze has shown that consumers from F-group had higher level of knowledge on nutrition and health, interest for food ingredients and products enriched with nutrients, than M-group, but there was no significant difference between them regarding interest in the new food products, healthy eating and daily fruit consumption. Respondents from S-group showed more interest for food ingredients, but less daily fruit consumption, interest for light soft drinks and new products, than P-group. The present study provides qualitative set of data, based on identification of interest and preference of young consumers, which may be incorporated in the new food products developed for contemporary market.
Slavica Grujic has 14 years of working experience in the Food Industry as Food Technology and Biotechnology engineer. She completed her postgraduate study and PhD in the Sci. field of Food Engineering and Technology from the Faculty of Technology, University of Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina, where she is working 10 years as Associate Professor. She has published 10 books, 15 papers in reputed journals, 18 papers in the national journals and more than 30 papers in proceeding of international and 8 in national congress or conference. She has been serving as an editorial board member of repute.
