Household Egg Consumption Pattern in Kalutara District
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Date
2014
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Uva Wellassa University of Sri Lanka
Abstract
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 behavior of consumers in Kalutara district. Thus, as a pilot study, was studied through a consumer survey. 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 descriptive statistics and correlation analysis in SPSS statistical software. It revealed that the per-capita consumption of eggs in the Kalutara district (111) is lower than the country average (123). 6% of consumers do not consume 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 also preferred brown (61%) over white eggs (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. Study firther revealed that the consumers' perception on health and nutrition did not significantly effect on egg consumption. 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 low-level of income. This finding indicates that the price of eggs is an important concern in facilitating egg consumption among low income groups and 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 on nutritional value of eggs and social stigmas associated with egg consumption.
Key words: Egg consumption, Consumer perception, Kalutara district
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Animal Science Degree Programme (ANS)