Percepção do consumidor em relação à inovação em queijos frescais

Abstract

The growing demand for healthy food has stimulated the innovation and the development of novel foods in worldwide food industry. The innovations, both in terms of technological aspect and formulation of products must be considered from the consumer’s point of view, since consumer acceptance is crucial when introducing novel foods in the market. It is relevant to investigate how novel foods are perceived by consumers as well as the intention to purchase of innovative products. This study aimed at investigating the consumer perception towards innovation in fresh cheese. It was considered as innovation the technology used in the manufacturing process (High hydrostatic pressure), the probiotic characteristics and salt reduction. To achieve this goal the study was divided in two steps: a qualitative approach (focus groups sessions) that aimed to identify which factors were considered the most important in the intention to purchase for fresh cheese, and a quantitative approach, where conjoint analysis was applied to determine the utility values for different levels of the selected factors, and the relative importance of these factors in the intention to purchase. Three sessions of Focus Groups of about 80 minutes each were carried out with a total of 22 participants who consumed Minas frescal cheese. Six fresh cheeses were used in the sessions to stimulate discussion among participants. One cheese had no added salt, three of them presented the claim "contains probiotic microorganisms" and the other two were produced with goat milk. The factors identified in the study were: salt content, type of milk, probiotic, additional information about the technology used in the milk processing and price. The quantitative study was planned using these factors, and 12 labels were created following a fractional factorial design, which were evaluated by 150 fresh cheese consumers. The average results revealed the type of milk as the greatest relative importance (RI) factor. In general, fresh cheese made from cow's milk (RI 35.16%), probiotic (RI 19.86%), with 50% salt reduction (RI 18.62%), pressurized with additional information about the benefits of the technology (RI 16.02%) and low priced (RI 10.34%) had highest intention to purchase. We conclude that consumers are interested in health claims for better understanding the food benefits, and to help choosing healthier products. Consumer’s perceptions suggest important implications for the development of marketing strategies of fresh cheese.