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Consumer awareness and willingness to purchase probiotic food and beverage products: a study of Sonipat district, Haryana

Sapna Arora (Department of Food Business Management, NIFTEM, Kundli, India)
Krishna Prabha (Division of Food Technology, Department of Chemical Engineering, Vignan’s Foundation for Science Technology and Research, Guntur, India)
Vijay Singh Sharanagat (Department of Food Engineering, NIFTEM, Kundli, India)
Vijendra Mishra (Department of Basic and Applied Sciences, NIFTEM, Kundli, India)

British Food Journal

ISSN: 0007-070X

Article publication date: 2 November 2020

Issue publication date: 13 July 2021

742

Abstract

Purpose

In a developing country like India, consumers are shifting from high-energy diet to balanced nutritional diet, which enhances the metabolic, physiological, functional and health benefits of consumers. The growing self-care and health-embracing population made the probiotic sector as lucrative market for functional food manufacturers and suppliers. Therefore, an analysis is required to understand consumers’ knowledge and buying behavior regarding probiotic products for product innovation and development.

Design/methodology/approach

Awareness, knowledge and consumption patterns of probiotic products were investigated among randomly selected 306 consumers in the Sonipat city of Haryana, which comes in the proximity of national capital, i.e. Delhi, India. A structured questionnaire with exploratory characteristics was developed and face-to-face interviews were conducted as a part of data collection.

Findings

The inference is that there is immense potential for the probiotic fruit beverage market as a higher proportion of the population was interested in probiotic products delivered with fruits as a base matrix followed by dairy products. Further, government’s initiation and support are required not only for manufacturing such health-beneficial products having therapeutic value but also to spread awareness regarding the necessity of including such products in the meals of the growing children.

Originality/value

The study shows changing customer attitudes toward probiotic products and sheds light on consumers’ preference on the medium (food matrix) of probiotic delivery, thereby exploring market opportunities in the area of the functional food sector.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

Funding: The authors are thankful to MOFPI (The Ministry of Food Processing of India) and NIFTEM (National Institute of Food Technology Entrepreneurship and Management) for the financial support and the execution of this study.The authors are also thankful to Dr. Prabhat K Nema, Professor, Department of Food Engineering, NIFTEM for his guidance.Conflict of interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Citation

Arora, S., Prabha, K., Sharanagat, V.S. and Mishra, V. (2021), "Consumer awareness and willingness to purchase probiotic food and beverage products: a study of Sonipat district, Haryana", British Food Journal, Vol. 123 No. 8, pp. 2805-2817. https://doi.org/10.1108/BFJ-06-2020-0469

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited

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