Kids University (BO-29.03-001-002)

In the Netherlands, fruit and vegetable consumption among children is too low. Healthy food consumption, and especially consumption of vegetables in children is a societal challenge, in which business should play an active role. Often children judge vegetables as unappetizing. Therefore, it is important to look both at the form and mode of offering of vegetable rich foods to children. Scientific studies point to several effective strategies to encourage vegetable consumption in children, including horticulture related product forms, freedom of food choice, way of preparation of vegetables, positive context of consumption and participation of children during eg. preparation of food. However, it is still unclear how these strategies can be linked to actual appreciation and perception of vegetable rich foods and therewith product success in both children and parents. In this innovation project, focus will be on product perception (ao. via measurement of emotions) of vegetable containing foods. The objective is to translate obtained knowledge into specific product concepts with vegetables, that will be developed with input from children aged 10-12 years .

Summary: The primary objective is to investigate how children experience vegetable products (emotions vs liking of a food), how to measure this in a child-friendly way, and how to translate obtained insights into new market concepts both for fresh and processed vegetables, and also related products that might stimulate vegetable consumption in children. This involves an integrated approach, including packaging of the developed foods .