Exploring the Brazilian consumer perceptions of nanotechnology in food

Abstract

Nanotechnology (NT) has been considered the basis for the next industrial revolution, but many people are still not familiar with this technology. Consumers have an important role in consolidating technologies by their judgement and acceptance of new products, thus determining their commercial success or failure. The objective of this study was to investigate the perception of Brazilian consumers in relation to NT and its applications in food, as well as evaluating the intention to purchase and the idea of consuming food produced with Nano ingredients 463 Brazilian consumers took part in a word association task. They were asked to write down the first four words/expressions/sentiments that came to mind when they thought of i) NT, ii) the uses of NT, and iii) which foods would be interesting/adequate applying NT. Then, they were asked about the idea of eating food products with ingredients obtained from NT and indicate the intention to purchase a food that has been processed using NT. NT was mostly associated with future, evolution, progress, science, and research. Although most participants had a positive attitude towards NT, it was possible to recognize a series of somewhat abstract and generalist associations, demonstrating a lack of knowledge about the subject. Despite the high expectation for consumption and intention to purchase of nanofoods, most of participants had doubts concerning the subject. The results allowed an understanding about the consumer knowledge on NT and the acceptance of Nano foods. These results could inform strategies to promote strategies to support NT application, and favor confidence in the food industry, as well as contributing to the identification of business opportunities for the productive sector.