Percepção dos consumidores em relação a alimentos in natura industrializados congelados

Abstract

The dietary pattern of the Brazilian population presents significant changes during the last years. New eating habits have emerged through increased participation of women in the labor market, hectic living in large cities, and with an increasingly urban population, there has been an increase in the consumption of processed foods, including frozen foods. These foods are gaining ground in the food category because the freezing method is used in food preservation, safety and quality techniques and also generates little loss in sensory characteristics. In view of this, it aims to evaluate the consumers perception regarding fresh processed foods, making a comparison with foods in nature that did not undergo industrial freezing process. For this, the approach used was collected from information in a focus group that lasted 45 minutes, where a specific questionnaire on the research theme was applied and was basically completed in a session with 12 participants. Three tasting sizes were also served, where two contained industrialized broccoli that underwent an industrial freezing process and one contained fresh broccoli, both cooked at a time and temperature varying in the nature of each product. Along with the samples for tasting were given a form to assess the perceptions of consumers regarding the physical and sensory characteristics of the samples. It was observed that 75% of participants observed differences in characteristics and sensors of frozen processed foods, 58% that in this food category offers less nutrients, vitamins and minerals, 50% has reception in relation to food consumption. It was found that nine participants demonstrated that differences in the frozen food sensor features and sensors when consumed foods in this category, but seven are consumed unassigned different tasting notes and some more tastes from the sample containing or frozen industrial broccoli, or these items have a biased attitude towards frozen foods, even if they are fresh.