The chemical, microbial and sensory evaluation of lucerne (Medicago sativa L.) for human consumption.
Research Outputs:
Consumers’ knowledge and attitude towards lucerne were investigated by means of qualitative and quantitative methods to understand consumer behaviour towards lucerne. It was evident that the differences in the lucerne knowledge of respondents of different demographic backgrounds indicated a need to inform and educate specific population groups of the SA population on the benefits of consuming lucerne. In particular, consumers need to change their behaviour in order to adopt lucerne as a potential vegetable.
Confronting consumers with unfamiliar products (eg. lucerne) may lead to unrealistic situations and information that has limited predictive validity. After all, for new/unknown food products, consumers have less information in their memory to guide them and expressions of preference are often constructed at the time that the respondent is asked to give a judgement.
It is important to note that attitude and behaviour are separate things. Simply because an individual has a particular positive or negative attitude towards lucerne does not mean that the individual will act on the attitude. It is recognised that understanding consumer attitudes and behaviour is essential information and ought to be known before researchers formulates new lucerne products rather than manufacturing a product and looking to others.
Summary of research
The objectives of this study were not only to determine consumers’ knowledge from different demographic groups, but also to investigate the role of specific variables as antecedents of consumers’ attitude towards lucerne.
Consumers’ beliefs regarding the advantages, disadvantages and associations of eating lucerne were recorded as consumers’ attitude consists of an organization of several beliefs towards lucerne. Data were collected form a purposive sample of consumers (n = 384) from Bloemfontein, Free State Province on a three part self-completion questionnaire, consisting out of knowledge, attitude and demographical questions.
Consumers’ knowledge of lucerne were statistically analysed by means of descriptive statistics. For the attitude part a hypotheses were represented via the conceptual model as to depict health benefit, food safety risk, sensory qualities and synonyms as antecedents of consumers’ attitude towards lucerne. Results for reliability and factor analysis, descriptive statistics, a final model and hypothesis summary were tabulated.
Thematic analysis was used to categorise consumers’ beliefs regarding lucerne and coded to quantitative data. While 63.1% of the respondents knew what lucerne was, 77% of the respondents did not know what alfalfa is and 90.3% of the respondents have never consumed lucerne. Younger respondents of the white population group with a grade 12 or higher education were practically significantly (p<0.001) more knowledgeable on lucerne.
Further results indicated that there is a significant relationship between consumers’ attitude on sensory qualities and synonyms and their attitude on lucerne. While respondents believed that ‘health general’ (40.1%) was the most important advantage of eating lucerne, ‘sensory properties’ (35.4%) and vegetables spinach (24.5%) were regarded as the most important disadvantage and association, respectively. It was evident that the differences in the lucerne knowledge of respondents of different demographic backgrounds indicated a need to inform and educate specific population groups of the SA population on the benefits of consuming lucerne.
South African consumers also need to change their attitude in order to adopt lucerne as a potential vegetable.
Posters
Mielmann, A, Hugo, C and Bothma, C 2013. The utilization of lucerne (Medicago sativa L.) for human consumption – a microbial and nutrient analysis.
Poster presented at the South African Association of Family Ecology and Consumer Science; Pretoria, South Africa, 27 February to 1 March 2013.