engleski

THE ACCEPTANCE OF HEALTH RELATED INNOVATIONS IN TRADITIONAL MEAT PRODUCTS BY CROATIAN CONSUMERS

The aim of this study was to examine Croatian consumers’ acceptance of health related innovations in traditional meat products. A face-to-face survey was conducted with a sample of 150 visitors (77 males and 73 females) of a specialized fair of traditional food products in Zagreb in 2013. The respondents were asked to indicate their attitudes on five-point scale, where 1 meant rejection or no impact and 5 meant full acceptance or impact. Results (mean ±SD) show the highest level of acceptance for innovations related to better control of smoking conditions (3.3± 1.14) and reduction of salt content (3.1±1.15), followed by reduced fat content (3.0±1.14) and controlled fermentation (2.9±1.12). The perceived negative impact of innovations on traditional character of meat products was highest for reduction of fat (3.4±0.99) and salt (3.4±1.03) and lowest for controlled fermentation (3.2±1.04) and smoking conditions (3.2±1.05). With regards to respondents’ socio-demographic features a nonparametric test statistic (Mann-Whitney U) revealed a higher acceptance of fat reduction and higher willingness to increase a consumption of healthier traditional meat products among females, while age, education level and income had no influence on investigated parameters. In addition, some health related innovations ; e.g. the fat reduction and the use of starter cultures were generally less acceptable among respondents with a high consumption frequency of traditional meat products. The results of this preliminary study indicated controlled smoking conditions as a best accepted health related innovation by Croatian consumers with the least negative impact on perceived traditional character of product. In general terms, women were more likely to accept some of the investigated innovations and consequently to increase their consumption of innovated products. However, the most regular consumers of traditional meat products were less open towards innovations which may pose a challenge to further improvements in this traditional food sector.

traditional meat products; health innovations; consumers

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