Food neophobia: Spanish case study related to new formulations based on traditional 'gazpacho'

Food neophobia is a concept defined by Pliner and Hobden (1992) as 'distrust of eating and/or rejection of new foods or unknown', an individual quality that determines the choice of food. Food neophobia present among children and adolescents affects both the quality and the variety of foods in the diet. High levels of neophobia are associated with serious problems of public health and education. In this sense, recent studies have shown that food neophobia could influence in certain degree on the scores given to new foods in the sensory acceptance tests, hedonic values and the intention to buy food. In Europe, according to current legislation, novel foods are those foods that were not used for human consumption to a significant degree within the Union before 15 May 1997. However, it must be considered that colloquially a new product will be that obtained after important modifications in the process of obtaining it and/or those unknown to the individual. The main objectives of the present work are to evaluate the level of food neophobia among young consumers in Madrid and to evaluate the influence on the scores given in tests of acceptance of new formulations based on traditional "gazpacho". The results obtained in the survey of 168 university students from the Community of Madrid aged between 19 and 35 years using the Spanish version of the Food Neophobia Scale (FNS) showed that our participants are mostly neophilic with a mean value of 25.80 (S.D. 7.75). Reliability of the FNS was assessed by calculating internal consistency with Cronbach alpha (0.75). The data obtained in this study showed higher acceptance of new formulations based on traditional gazpachos by neophilic subjects.