THE USE AND PERCEIVED APPROPRIATENESS OF MILK IN THE DIET - A CROSS-COUNTRY EVALUATION

The repertory grid method (short structured interviews) was used to st udy the place milk occupies within the total diet, its perceived appro priateness and people's beliefs concerning different types of milk ('' ultra-high temperature processed'' (UHT) versus ''fresh'' and differen t levels of fat content) in Finland, France, the Netherlands and the U nited Kingdom (UK). Twenty subjects (10 male. 10 female, 18-74 years) were interviewed in each country. The repertory grid method lends itse lf well to such a cross-country and language comparison. The type of m ilk consumed, uses of milk and constructs used to distinguish between milks varied across countries. Overall, subjects more often consumed l ow-fat milks than full-fat milks. UHT milk was almost only consumed by the French subjects. Constructs such as ''creamy,'' ''fat content,'' ''full'' and ''rich'' were used to describe milks of high fat content. Low-fat milks were described by constructs such as ''watery,'' ''heal thy'' and ''digestible.''