A percepção da segurança alimentar no contexto da restauração

Abstract

In an ever more demanding society as concerns quality, the food area is no exception.The parameters relative to food safety are becoming increasingly restricted anddemanding, providing limits easily recognised by consumers in general.Thus, the present study seeks to understand how the Portuguese consumer perceives thecurrent state of food safety in Portugal in restaurants and which are the mechanisms orattitudes used to certify that they are dealing with safe food. In this context an onlinesurvey was performed, leveraging social networks and shared perceptions on profilesrelated to restaurants, with the objective to ascertain the consumer’s perception inrelation to consumption in restaurants.From analyzing 110 valid responses one can see that the consumer feels confident ingoing to a restaurant, however the risk of food intoxication is present in the majority ofthe respondents. A factor deserving attention in this study is that food safety constitutesa factor of choice, up and above, even, that of price. The survey also questioned thepropension of the consumer to pay an additional fee to obtain safety in a restaurant, andhow food safety is hierarchically organized in relation to other factors of attractionreferring to a particular restaurant. One can verify that the sample is well informed,capable of classifying food which can be susceptible of provoking intoxications, but thatstill has some doubts mainly in relation to food conservation criteria as well asconcerning how institutions preventively fiscalizing restaurants should act.

Date of Award	2011
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Paula Teixeira (Supervisor)