Motives underlying food consumption in the Western Balkans: consumers’ profiles and public health strategies

International audienceThis study aims to identify subgroups of consumers based on the health motives underlying their food choice in Western Balkan Countries.The survey (n = 2943) was based on the Food Choice Questionnaire (FCQ) and elicited information on socio-demographic characteristics, consumption frequency of healthy food products, nutrition knowledge and impulsiveness. Analysis of the FCQ data focused on items of "health and natural content" and "weight control" factors to identify clusters.The biggest group of the sample was weight control and health-concerned individuals (34 %), mainly urban women older than 50. The second group of respondents (31 %) was moderately motivated about health and weight. A third group was health concerned but paid less attention to weight control (21 %), mainly comprising men and people living with children. The last group consisted of unconcerned young men (14 %) eating less fruit and showing higher impulsiveness.Western Balkan consumers differ in the importance they attach to health and natural content and weight control. This insight is needed to target interventions

Motives underlying food consumption in the Western Balkans : consumers’ profiles and public health strategies

Objectives: This study aims to identify subgroups of consumers based on the health motives underlying their food choice in Western Balkan Countries. Methods: The survey (n = 2943) was based on the Food Choice Questionnaire (FCQ) and elicited information on socio-demographic characteristics, consumption frequency of healthy food products, nutrition knowledge and impulsiveness. Analysis of the FCQ data focused on items of “health and natural content” and “weight control” factors to identify clusters. Results: The biggest group of the sample was weight control and health-concerned individuals (34 %), mainly urban women older than 50. The second group of respondents (31 %) was moderately motivated about health and weight. A third group was health concerned but paid less attention to weight control (21 %), mainly comprising men and people living with children. The last group consisted of unconcerned young men (14 %) eating less fruit and showing higher impulsiveness. Conclusions: Western Balkan consumers differ in the importance they attach to health and natural content and weight control. This insight is needed to target interventions

Assessing fruit perception using focus groups

Today, only a minority of the world's population consumes the recommended daily amount of fruits and vegetables. Even though fruit growing has a long tradition in the Western Balkan countries, fruit consumption should be encouraged as it is a basic element of a healthy diet. During the FOCUS Balkans project, fruit perception and consumption was studied with a qualitative and quantitative approach. This chapter describes the application of focus group discussions as a widely employable method in food consumer science. Required preparation measures and guidelines for focus group discussions are explained in detail. Furthermore, practical aspects about the implementation of this method as well as advice on the selection of participants are presented on behalf of a concrete example. For instance, it seems that participants from the Western Balkans generally prefer home-grown fruits or fruits bought on green markets, and fruit safety was an issue frequently raised. Focus group discussions hence are a valuable tool in exploring the consumption of a specific product, especially if combined with a quantitative survey for investigating differences between countries or between people of different age groups

A cross-cultural segmentation of western Balkan consumers: focus on preferences toward traditional fresh cow cheese

BACKGROUND: Western Balkan countries (WBCs) have a long-standing culinary tradition. The promotion of traditional foods may be a tool for coping with modernisation trends in such transition economies. This paper explores consumer preferences toward food in this region, focusing on a traditional fresh cow cheese locally called ‘Mladi Sir’. This product was quoted in all the preliminary focus groups as a common traditional product present in the six WBCs studied: Bosnia–Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia. RESULTS: After a literature review investigating the conceptof traditional foodinWBCsandthe implementation of focusgroups, asurveyincludingaconjointanalysisonpreferencesforfreshcowcheesewascarriedoutin2011tocollectdatafrom1200respondents. Four clusters of consumers were identified: one focused more on the local origin; one oriented more toward the scale of production(on-farmandsmall dairy); thethird favouringlowpricesandthefourth preferringhighpricesandindustrial products. CONCLUSION: Policy makers and the supply chain could take these differences in consumer preferences regarding traditional food products into account in order to develop specific strategies