Fonksiyonel gıda ürünlerine yönelik tüketici tutumları: İzmir'de bir uygulama

Using food products to prevent or to cure some diseases is not a new concept for some cultures. However, marketing some food products by emphasizing its health benefits has become a new trend all over the world especially in 1990s. This trend has two interactive components; one is the technological developments in nutrition science, second is the consumers? expectancy about long and healthy life. Consumers? demand for new food products which have extra health benefits and the improvements in food sector developed a new category of foods which are called ?functional foods?. With this new category, marketers have chance to develop new products or promote already existing products by applying some nutritional processes.Functional food product category is relatively new for Turkish consumers and their potential market success, consumer profile and future is still unclear. Analyzing consumers? attitudes towards functional foods are important to gather some information about functional food market. This information may also help marketers in responding the consumer needs.The aim of this study is to explore the effects of demographic variables over attitudes towards functional foods. Besides, study tries to explore the respondents? awareness of the functional food products. Detailed survey is applied face-to-face to 269 respondents chosen by non-random sampling in different areas in İzmir. As a result, it is found that some of the demographic variables partially affect the attitudes towards functional foods. However, the main constraint in the market about this food category is the lack of awareness.Key Words: Functional Foods, Consumer Behavior, Attitudes