Consumer Acceptance Of Functional Foods In Montenegro

This study aimed to investigate determinants of acceptance of functional food in Montenegro and to analyze to what extent these factors affected individuals' consumption of food with health claims. The questionnaire was administered to 479 respondents in Montenegro. The stratified three-stage random sampling method was adopted. Several statistical techniques were employed for investigating data: regression, cluster analysis, independent-samples t test and chi-square. The results indicate that individuals' education, standard of the household and level of knowledge on products with health claims and perception of some products attributes affect the frequency of functional food consumption. Functional food consumers in Montenegro differ from their global counterparts relative to their age, gender, presence of children in household and appraisal of healthiness of functional food. It is recommended that companies should provide consumers with more information on functional food and attempt to diminish the relevance of price through other product's attributes. Since this paper presents the first national assessment of factors that influence functional food consumption in Montenegro it will be a valuable benchmark for future studies in the field.