Dados do Trabalho

Título

USE OF PROJECTIVE TECHNIQUES TO INVESTIGATE CONSUMER PERCEPTIONS OF A CLEAN LABEL PRODUCT: A STUDY ON THE PRESENCE OF ADDITIVES/STABILIZERS IN UHT MILK’S LABEL IN BRAZIL

Introdução

The concern about the use of additives in food is increasing, however, little is known about consumer perceptions of additives in UHT milk. Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate the perception of Brazilian consumers regarding UHT milk and the presence/absence of stabilizers.

Material e Métodos

A questionnaire was administered to 360 respondents, which included sociodemographic questions, consumption-related questions, a Food Choice Questionnaire (FCQ), and two projective techniques (Word Association (WA) and Product Personality Profiling (PPP)). The projective methods consist of analyzing two images of UHT milk, one with stabilizers and other without stabilizers (clean label). In data analysis, the FCQ results were subjected to Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) along with the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) test. Furthermore, a Hierarchical Cluster Analysis (HCA) was conducted, where the interviewees were divided into two groups (70% = moderates and 30% = judicious). For WA, a qualitative content analysis was performed. Then, the results were analyzed within the formed groups. Global chi-square tests and chi-square tests per cell were used for sociodemographic data, PPP, WA, and consumption information.

Resultados e Discussão

The judicius group assigned higher agreement scores for all FCQ items, in the WA task, clean label UHT milk was more associated with "nutrients and constituents" by the moderates and less by the judicious, suggesting that for part of the interviewed participants, the absence of stabilizers increases the healthiness aspect of the product. In the PPP task, the moderates associated the clean label product with “young people” and "balanced diet", while for the judicious it was designed for a healthy living stereotype. The lack of clarity regarding the function of stabilizers in UHT milk (eg. confusion with conservatives) was another relevant information of this research, demonstrating that this understanding is still quite deficient.

Conclusão

Finally, it is believed that the studied methodologies can contribute to the dairy sector to obtain valuable insights about the consumer preferences and expectations, offering a significant strategic opportunity for the development and promotion of new clean label products in the segment.