Analysis of consumer attitudes and consumers’ willingness to pay for functional foods

The objective of this study is to analyze consumer behavior in relation to functional foods by a direct survey. To this end, the proposal is an analysis of the reasons for choosing to consume this type of food or not, accompanied by a supplementary investigation, mostly to assess the relationship between consumption patterns and willingness to pay (WTP) for the most common categories of functional foods, such as milk fortified with CLA (conjugated linoleic acid). Our research shows that a proportion of the population is unaware of the existence of functional foods and their properties. Moreover, it shows that when the concept of functional foods is explained to consumers, this creates a greater willingness to pay for such food, which is strongly linked to type of product carrier but not greatly to income. So the knowledge and transparency of information appear to be decisive variables in the process of choice, with significant implications in terms of policies for classification, labeling of food and public health.