Fortification of food products : a consumer perspective

Abstract

The prevalence of malnutrition and hidden hunger in developed but largely in developing countries, has led to the introduction of mandatory food fortification for the purpose of overcoming micro-nutrients malnutrition. Consumers have inadequate knowledge and are not aware of the relevance of food fortification. It is important for consumers to be conversant with fortified food products in order to make healthy food choices in a bid to overcome the phenomenon of micro-nutrient deficiency. The purpose of the study was to assess consumers’ level of awareness of food fortification in South Africa. A sample of n=400 consumers in the Durban central region was selected to participate in the survey. Non-probability convenience sampling was applied to nominate the participants in the study. The positivist cross-sectional study was undertaken using a quantitative paradigm to assess the various factors responsible for consumers’ inadequate knowledge of fortification. The measuring instrument was a five-point Likert scale questionnaire that constituted twenty-five questions and one open ended question. The results were captured on excel spreadsheet and analysed using SPSS version 25.0 software package. Descriptive and inferential statistical methods were utilised to summarise and analyse the results respectively. The study established that most of the consumers are not familiar with food fortification and its importance. The findings indicate further that there is a positive relationship 𝑝 < 0.05 between knowledge of the benefits of fortified products and motivation to buy fortified food products. On the other hand, it was also found that, there is a significant relationship between the shortcomings of food fortification and barriers for fortified food purchase intention. Therefore, there is a need to develop intervention strategies that can create awareness of food fortification basing on the findings of the study.