MARKET RESEARCH - HOW INTERESTED ARE CONSUMERS IN MEAT PRODUCTS WITH FEWER E-NUMBERS IN THEIR DECLARATION

Abstract

Market today offers a wide range of meat products. Additives are widely used in the meat industry. Their usage is aimed to make meat products safer to eat, to extend their shelf life, improve their sensory characteristics, etc. The main objective of the paper is to be done market research and how interested are consumers in meat products with fewer Е-numbers in their declaration by carrying out a survey. In order to describe the analysed sample statistical analysis is applied and the results are shown in an analytical and graphical form. According to the results obtained from this research it can be concluded that out of 210 respondents, 126 (60.00%) are informed about the meaning of the term "additive", 159 (75.71%) respondents know that the additives are labelled with E-numbers, whereas 122 (58.10%) respondents know the purposes why food additives are used in the food industry. However, competent institutions need to work on educating and informing consumers. Most respondents avoid meat products due to the presence of: flavour enhancers, emulsifiers, preservatives, food colours and stabilizers. 159 (75.71%) of the respondents believe that the market should offer meat products with a reduced presence of E-numbers in the declaration. Today, modern consumers are becoming more health conscious and they are changing their eating habits. Therefore, they are increasingly focused on natural meat products, where E-numbers are less represented in the declaration.