About 82% of parents surveyed worldwide and 86% of mothers and fathers in Asia place great value on natural food and drinks in order to provide their children with a well-balanced diet and serve as a role model, according to a report by market research company TNS and ingredients firm GNT Group.
The data have been collected in the course of a recent global study that interviewed 5,000 consumers aged 18 to 70 in 10 American, Asian and European countries, including 2,400 parents with children living at home.
In households without children, 67% of all global respondents state that they are concerned with a healthy nutrition.
Three out of four mothers and fathers are willing to disregard the price when choosing healthy products for their kids.
The average for Asia is at 91%.
Time pressures
When reconciling household chores, children and their job, parents may easily run short of time, with 46% consider ready-to-eat products as a good alternative to fresh food.
They only allow for convenience food on their plates when they are convinced of its naturalness: 75% of parents worldwide do not compromise on their children’s meals and buy healthy products even though this means investing more time and effort.
“The results of our study clearly show that parents wish to buy natural food and drinks for their children,” says Victor Foo, GM of GNT Singapore.
“At the same time, however, many parents around the world would like the preparation of meals to be easy and quick.”
“This opens a chance for food manufacturers, if they succeed in offering products that fulfill both needs.”
Shopping habits of parents
In order to make sure that their demands are met, 75% of parents surveyed would check the ingredient label before they add a product to their trolley, whereas 61% of those who have no children at home, do the same.
Products with E-numbers on the label would especially fail the test and 70% of parents would avoid purchasing food with synthetic additives.
In this regard, 95% of parents view products with claims ‘with natural colors’ the most important buying criteria.
“The study demonstrates that artificial additives and especially synthetic colors have a significant negative influence on the purchase decisions of parents”, says Foo.
