Understanding consumers' willingness to use omega-3 enriched eggs

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

One of the most important consumer trends in the food sector is the increasing popularity of nutritionally enriched food product consumption, especially omega-3 enriched foods. This study examines the consumers' willingness to consume omega-3 enriched eggs and applies the Health Belief Model (hereinafter: HBM). An online survey was conducted on a representative sample of 524 Croatian consumers who do grocery shopping for their households and purchase eggs. The data was collected from a representative panel using quota sampling by gender and age and analyzed using SEM by Partial Least Square. The results show that almost 3/4 of the respondents do not know what omega-3 enriched eggs are. The perceived benefits, selfefficacy, cue to action and health motivation have a positive impact on the willingness to use omega-3 enriched eggs.Contrarily, the effects of threat perception variables (perceived severity and perceived susceptibility) and barriers on the willingness to use omega-3 enriched eggs are not significant.The results could support the efforts of the producers and the authorities to develop strategies that promote the consumption of omega-3 enriched foods, especially eggs.