Consumer perceptions of healthy cereal products and production methods

M. Dean, R. Shepherd, Anne Arvola, M. Vassallo, M. Winkelmann, E. Claupein, Liisa Lähteenmäki, M. M. Raats, A. Saba

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticleScientificpeer-review

    98 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Using a survey, this study investigated public perceptions relating to different healthy grain foods (bread, pasta and biscuits) and how these perceptions are influenced by gender, nationality, base product (staple vs. fun food), type of health claim (general vs. specific) and people's perceptions associated with different production methods.
    Two thousand and ninety-four (50.4% women, 49.5% men) members of the public from the UK, Italy, Finland and Germany completed the survey questionnaire.
    The participants were over 18 years of age and were solely or jointly responsible for the family's grocery shopping.

    Results confirmed that similar to other functional foods, there were gender and country differences in people's perceptions of benefits relating to functional grain products.
    Men perceived more benefit in products with specific health claims and women in products with general health claims. However, when it was personally relevant, men's levels of perceived benefit in products with general health claims were equally high as women's. Further, modification of staple foods was perceived as more beneficial than fun foods and people preferred processes such as fortification and traditional cross-breeding to others such as genetic modification.
    In addition, the differences in perceived benefits between foods with general and specific health claims were largest for staple foods than for hedonistic foods.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)188-196
    JournalJournal of Cereal Science
    Volume46
    Issue number3
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2007
    MoE publication typeA1 Journal article-refereed

    Keywords

    • cereal fiber
    • cereal foods
    • cereals
    • human health
    • whole grain
    • food
    • food choice
    • functional foods
    • consumer attitudes
    • consumers

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'Consumer perceptions of healthy cereal products and production methods'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this