M. Lennernas et al., INFLUENCES ON FOOD CHOICE PERCEIVED TO BE IMPORTANT BY NATIONALLY-REPRESENTATIVE SAMPLES OF ADULTS IN THE EUROPEAN-UNION, European journal of clinical nutrition, 51, 1997, pp. 8-15
Objective: The purpose of this baseline survey was to obtain comparabl
e data on perceived influences on food choice from EU member countries
as the starting point for EU healthy eating promotion campaigns and p
rogrammes. Design: A cross-sectional study in which quota-controlled,
nationally-representative samples of approximately 1000 adults from ea
ch country completed a face-to-face interview-assisted questionnaire.
Setting: The survey was conducted between October 1995 and February 19
96 in the 15 member states of the European Union. Subjects: 14331 subj
ects (aged 15 y upwards) completed the questionnaire. Data were weight
ed by population size for each country and by sex, age and regional di
stribution within each member state. Results: The five most important
factors influencing consumers food choice were 'quality or freshness'
(74%), 'price' (43%), 'taste' (38%), 'trying to eat healthy' (32%) and
'family preferences' (29%), Subjects in different categories (age, se
x, education and employment status) selected different factors as havi
ng major influence on their food choice. Demographic factors seemed to
have greater effects on perceived influences than culture (country):
'quality/freshness', 'price','trying to eat healthy','family preferenc
es' seemed to be most important in women,'taste' and 'habit' in males.
Females and older and more educated subjects were more likely than ot
her subjects to select 'trying to eat healthy' as having a major influ
ence. 'Price' seemed most important in unemployed and retired subjects
.