Consumo de fast-food durante a pandemia da covid-19: mudanças no padrão alimentar

Abstract

In 2019, in China, the SARS-CoV-2 virus emerged, responsible for causing a respiratory disease called COVID-19. A few months after the appearance of the first cases, the virus had already spread all over the world and, in February 2020, it arrived in Brazil. During this period, the World Health Organization declared a global state of emergency, justified by the pandemic nature of the disease. Such a pandemic has heavily impacted public health and the global economy; nevertheless, Brazilian society also felt strongly the impacts of the health crisis that claimed the lives of more than 600,000 people in Brazil alone. Restriction measures, such as the closure of schools and businesses, were adopted at different times and in various states of Brazil, in an attempt to contain the spread of the virus. This scenario was then responsible for various forms of adaptation in people's daily lives, including changes in eating habits and lifestyle in society. Given this scenario, COVID-19 was also responsible for the increase in the number of sales and consumption of fast-food products through delivery. Therefore, the objective of the present work was to investigate and evaluate the relationship between the sale of french fries and the consumption of fast food in three large companies in the city of Fortaleza - CE, during the COVID-19 pandemic, between the years 2020 and 2022. In view of the above, a survey and comparison of data regarding the sale of french fries by three different companies was carried out, in order to evaluate the relationship between the sales figures of the aforementioned product and the social isolation that occurred in the interstitial data. There were significant associations between the years analyzed in two of the three companies evaluated, suggesting that there was an increase in fast food sales compared to the initial period of the pandemic. In this context, the present study suggests a more in- depth analysis of the fast-food sector, with the objective of investigating the need for food satisfaction of these customers, aiming at the production of healthier food options, rich in essential nutrients for maintaining the health of consumers.