Browsing by Author "Chinthaka, A.D.G."

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    Household Egg Consumption Pattern in Kalutara District
    (Uva Wellassa University of Sri Lanka, 2019) Chinthaka, A.D.G.; Bogahawaththa, B.R.S.; Mahindarathne, M.G.P.P.; Abeyrathne, E.D.N.S.
    Sri Lanka has shown a significant consumer demand increment in the egg industry. The egg consumption trend reflects that the consumers are not only considered about the nutritional value of the egg but also concern about other aspects such as health concerns associated with, food safety and animal welfare issues. In this context, it would be useful to analyze the egg consumption behaviour of consumers that could generate important insights about egg consumption trend of the country. Thus, as a pilot study, the egg consumption pattern in the Kalutara district was studied through a consumer survey. A pre-tested structured questionnaire was used in the data collection and a total of 400 consumers were selected by using the stratified simple random sampling technique. Collected data were analyzed using techniques such as descriptive statistics and correlation analysis in SPSS statistical software. This study revealed that the per-capita consumption of eggs in the Kalutara district (111) is lower than the country average (123). About 6% of consumers are not consuming egg in the Kalutara district. According to the results, most of the consumers preferred free-raised egg (81%) than the farm-raised egg (14%) and they also preferred brown egg (61%) over the white egg (32%). These results indicated that consumers tend to believe that the free raised brown color eggs have a greater nutritive value than white color farm eggs. The study further revealed that the consumers’ perception on health and nutrition did not significantly affect on egg consumption in the Kalutara district. This finding suggests that the consumers are not much aware on the nutritional and health effects related to the egg consumption. However, monetary concerns significantly affected on consumption of egg in families with a lowlevel of income. This finding indicates that the price of eggs is an important concern in facilitating egg consumption among low income groups. This study concluded that there is a lack of knowledge in less educated and low-income families regarding animal protein sources for a healthy life. Thus, it will be useful to conduct awareness programs to inform consumers about the nutritional value of eggs, social stigmas associated with egg consumption and related health concerns.