Percepção do consumidor em relação às tecnologias empregadas na conservação de frutas e hortaliças e a neofobia de tecnologia de alimentos

Abstract

Brazil stands out worldwide for its large fruit and vegetable production capacity, which is one of the main agricultural activities in the country. These foods are highly perishable, so that around 30 to 40% of the production is lost in the processing, handling and storage stages, which highlights the need for the study and application of conservation technologies. However, consumers are increasingly concerned about the risks associated with such applications in food, so a lack of information and knowledge can lead to rejection of technologies and a backlash of innovation in the food sector. Thus, the objective of this study was to determine the level of Neophobia of Food Technology among consumers in the city of Fortaleza-CE and metropolitan region and to evaluate its relationship with the familiarity and desire to try fruits and vegetables preserved by irradiation technologies, packaging with modified atmosphere, refrigeration and edible coatings. Socioeconomic characteristics, their influence on the level of food technology neophobia and the frequency of consumption of fruits and vegetables were also evaluated. For that, a field research was carried out using a structured questionnaire allocated on the Google Forms platform that was shared during the month of February 2021 through social media Instagram, WhatsApp, Facebook and Linkedin. The data obtained were analyzed using the Excel tool from Microsoft© and the SPSS Statistics 20 program from IBM©. The reliability of the Portuguese version of the Food Technology Neophobia Scale (FTNS) was determined by calculating Cronbach's alpha coefficient. Of the total responses (400), 81.3% were young adults aged 18 to 35 years, 65.25% declared themselves female, 90.5% had a high level of education and 42.8% consumed fruits and vegetables daily. Most participants were classified as neutral (65.5%) and neophobic (16.5%) and it was found that food technology neophobia was influenced by age and education. Furthermore, based on Pearson's correlation, it was noticed that the lower the familiarity, the higher the level of neophobia and the lower the desire to experiment with the technologies under study. This research presents important information about the aversion of consumers in Fortaleza and the metropolitan region to new food technologies, which can be used to design strategies in order to avoid negative reactions and the retrocession of market innovations.