Produtos lácteos funcionais: perfil do consumidor e entendimento das informações constante no rótulo destes alimentos

Abstract

Today we live in a context where chronic diseases have plagued mankind alarmingly, and this increase generated, among other factors, by poor diet. Numerous awareness campaigns that have promoted in humans is growing concern about your health and well being. This level are the functional products that promise health benefits, combined with nutritional value and may produce metabolic and physiological effects on the body without medical supervision for their consumption. Observing the market for functional dairy products, shows a marked growth, with absolute growth forecast in the coming years, but there is also a growing concern with the information provided on the label of these products, it is within reach of consumer understanding, for it has the right to such information. This study intended to draw a relationship between socio-demographic profile consumer of functional dairy products and the level of knowledge that this has on the benefits of it, as well as in relation to the information on the labels of these products through the on-site application a structured questionnaire to 342 people, belonging to the student framework, administrative and technical teaching of campus Mediatrix, duly approved by the Ethics Committee of Research with Human Being at the Federal University of Technology of Paraná. Data were analyzed statistically, though there is a unique profile of the studied population due to the concentrated application context a young audience and access to information, and a growing concern for health and healthy lifestyles. The consumer perception on packaging, indicated a tendency for consumers to give more weight to the validity attributes, label, nutritional value and functionality of appeal, while characteristics related to design: color, size and ergonomics, as well as the country of origin revealed having less importance for most of the responders.