Attittudes of consumers in Serbia towards the importance of a balanced diet and table egggs as foodstuff

Abstract

To investigate consumers' attitudes towards a balanced diet and eggs as foodstuff, 509 consumers have been surveyed. Through this survey, the consumers answered questions about the importance of a balanced diet, importance of having eggs in diet, the most common way of egg consumption, benefits and drawbacks of eating eggs. The responses were analysed by gender, age, occupation, education and place of living of the respondents (city of Belgrade, other cities and other populated places). Based on these results, it can be concluded that most of the respondents (79% males and 87% females) think a balanced diet is important, whereas 41% males and 52% females think it is very important. Moreover, most of the respondents find it important to have eggs in diet, and males and females do not differ in their responses (69%). The most common way of cooking and consuming eggs is frying, according to 68% male and 50% female respondents from all the places (60% from Belgrade, 55% from other cities and 62% from other populated places). As a benefit of eating eggs, the most frequent response is 'nutritive value' (43% respondents), whereas, the most frequent drawback is 'a risk of cholesterol' (19% respondents). Hence, one should pay particular attention to education on the importance of diet, at the level of the whole community.

U cilju ispitivanja stavova potrošača o značaju uravnotežene ishrane i jajima kao namirnici anketirano je 509 potrošača, na području Republike Srbije. Kroz anketno ispitivanje potrošači su se izjasnili o značaju uravnotežene ishrane, značaju jaja u ishrani i najčešćim načinima konzumiranja, prednostima i nedostacima jaja. Odgovori anketiranih potrošača obrađeni su po polu, starosti, zanimanju, obrazovanju i sredini u kojoj žive (grad Beograd, ostali gradovi, ostala naseljena mesta). Na osnovu rezultata ispitivanja može se zaključiti da je većini anketiranih potrošača važna uravnotežena ishrana (79% za muški i 87% za ženski pol), pri čemu se o ishrani kao veoma važnoj izjasnilo 41% muškaraca i 52% žena. Takođe, za većinu anketiranih potrošača zastupljenost jaja u ishrani je važna, a po ovom pitanju među pripadnicima različitih polova nema razlika (69%). Najčešći način pripreme, odnosno konzumiranja, su pržena jaja, kod oba pola (za muškarce je to 68%, a kod žena 50%) i u svim životnim sredinama u Beogradu 60%, ostalim gradovima 55% i ostalim naseljenim mestima 62%). Kao prednost jaja u ishrani potrošači su najčešće naveli hranljivost (43% ispitanika), a kao najčešći nedostatak strah od povećanja holesterola (19% ispitanika). Edukaciji o značaju ishrane, sa akcentom na značaj jaja kao visokovredne namirnice, trebalo bi posvetiti posebnu pažnju, na nivou celokupne društvene zajednice.