Abstract
Brazil is the second largest coffee consumer in the world. The development of new products related to healthy eating is one of the demands to maintain this scenario. This research aimed to investigate the role of socio-demographic, cognitive and behavioral characteristics on the acceptance of functional foods by coffee consumers. A questionnaire developed and applied in Belgium was previously translated and validated for application with Brazilian consumers. The habits of coffee consumption, knowledge and interest were investigated regarding functional soluble coffee enriched with antioxidants. The self-administered study was performed with 270 consumers. Acceptance was measured by two items: “Functional foods are all right for me as long as they taste good” and “Functional foods are all right for me even if they taste worse than their conventional counterpart foods”, obtaining a mean score of 4.03 and 2.79 (scale 1: totally disagree and 5: totally agree), respectively. The acceptance of functional foods increased with age, schooling, income, belief in the health benefits and knowledge about functional foods for both items. There was no significant correlation between price and acceptance. With regards to a functional soluble coffee product, the sensory quality was more determinant for its acceptance than price.
Highlights
Coffee consumption in Brazil was about 21.99 million bags of 60 Kg in 2017, with an increase of 3.6% compared to 2016, corresponding to twice the average world growth
Recent data confirmed that coffee is a consolidated product, maintaining a high and stable presence in 80% of Brazilian households, but it is important to keep a continuous effort to maintain this consumer behavior
Versus2.79, 2.79, pp
Summary
Coffee consumption in Brazil was about 21.99 million bags of 60 Kg in 2017, with an increase of 3.6% compared to 2016, corresponding to twice the average world growth. With this volume, the country stands as the second largest consumer of coffee in the world [1,2]. According to ABIC, to stimulate the demand, it is necessary to increase investments in marketing, and in the differentiation and innovation of coffee products. This could be done by highlighting the coffee attributes to create a relationship between healthy living, well-being, energy, and pleasure that coffee consumption provides
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