British Food Journal

Older adults’ involvement in developing satisfactory pasta sauces with healthy

ingredients
Stefano Predieri, Gianluca Sotis, Paola Rodinò, Edoardo Gatti, Massimiliano Magli, Federica Rossi,
Giulia Maria Daniele, Marta Cianciabella, Roberto Volpe,
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Giulia Maria Daniele, Marta Cianciabella, Roberto Volpe, (2018) "Older adults’ involvement in
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BFJ
120,4
804
Received 7 July 2017
Revised 25 September 2017
Accepted 26 September 2017
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British Food Journal
Vol. 120 No. 4, 2018
pp. 804-814
© Emerald Publishing Limited
0007-070X
DOI 10.1108/BFJ-06-2017-0358
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0007-070X.htm
Older adults’ involvement in
developing satisfactory pasta
sauces with healthy ingredients
Stefano Predieri
Institute of Biometeorology, Bologna, Italy
Gianluca Sotis and Paola Rodinò
SPP-CNR, Rome, Italy
Edoardo Gatti, Massimiliano Magli, Federica Rossi,
Giulia Maria Daniele and Marta Cianciabella
Institute of Biometeorology, Bologna, Italy, and
Roberto Volpe
SPP-CNR, Rome, Italy
Abstract
Purpose – The third age can be a period of major food consumption changes. Either voluntary or imposed by
health issues, they may be accompanied by alterations in sensory acuity. The purpose of this paper is to
investigate how lifelong food habits and health-age issues affect food choice at a later age, with the aim of
developing strategies to direct aged people toward healthier food habits.
Design/methodology/approach – A survey, aimed to investigate differences between current and past
food habits, was carried out in a group of 170 Italian older adults. Questions focused on the composition of the
main meal, asking participants to describe its actual structure and to highlight differences in previous years’
food habits. A discrete choice experiment (DCE) was planned, during which participants were asked to help
formulating innovative pasta sauces with healthy ingredients.
Findings – This survey clearly illustrated gender-related differences: women were characterized by a higher
consumption of vegetables, while men revealed a more frequent use of wine, pasta and meat. The DCE
technique suited older adults’ abilities and enabled the development of innovative sauces, indicating a clear
preference for extra virgin olive oil, as compared to cream or butter. Gender-related differences were
confirmed: women mainly chose a vegetarian sauce, while men expressed an inclination for red meat.
Originality/value – This is the first report of a successful application of the DCE technique to investigate
older adults’ dietary choices. The outspoken preference for olive oil as fat in sauce composition is a positive
finding for future actions aimed at directing older adults toward healthier food habits.
Keywords Older adults, Mediterranean diet, Conjoint analysis, Food habits, DCE, Pasta sauce
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
Older population (aged 65 and over) represents 7 percent or more of the total population in
many parts of the world and is projected to increase more than 60 percent in just 15 years
(He et al., 2016). The related demographic changes will demand initiatives aimed at building
a healthy and active ageing population. A major target is to improve food habits, since
nutrition is addressed as a cornerstone of health in either “the third age” (people over 65),
and in “the fourth age” (people over 80) (Burns, 2009). Eating behavior is affected by
psychological, social and physiological modifications occurring with ageing (Elsner, 2002;
Boyce and Shone, 2006; Kim, 2016). Consequent changes in food habits, either voluntarily or
due to health issues (Bech-Larsen and Kazbare, 2014), may be accompanied by some
alterations of sensory sensitivity (Methven et al., 2012) which eventually affect food choices
(Kremer et al., 2014). It is known that in older adults inappropriate food behaviors may lead to
malnutrition or obesity, accelerating the ageing process and increasing the risk of disease and
mortality (Meijers et al., 2012; Salihu et al., 2009; Tieva et al., 2015). Hedonic expectations of
 mature consumers are essential to motivate regular food consumption and appropriate Developing
nutritional requirements (Sorensen et al., 2012). Midwinter (2005) defines the third age as the satisfactory
independent post-work life period (as opposed to the fourth age, characterized by pasta sauces
“dependence”). Third-age consumers, as generally all consumers, want to live a healthy and
enjoyable life, eating delicious food in a pleasant environment (Roberts, 2002). In fact,
satisfaction derived from food has an acknowledged role in older adults’ quality of life ( Jeong
and Seo, 2014). However, maintaining the right balance between enjoyable food, healthy diet 805
and pleasant lifestyle is perhaps harder on the aged than on any other demographic group
(Costa and Jongen, 2010). To design successful “novel foods” for the third age, the direct
involvement of older adults may help the understanding of challenging dietary changes
imposed by age-health constraints (Collins and Bogue, 2015).
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To obtain adequate information from older adults, a particular care should be taken in
designing the questionnaires and in structuring an interview appropriate for respondents’
capacity (Maitre et al., 2015). Questionnaires adopted in this research focused on a well-known
basic food, as a friendly approach to food habits complexity. “Pasta” is a universally
appreciated food, worldwide associated with the positive features of the Mediterranean diet
and it is also an important carbohydrates source. However, such healthy properties of pasta
can be weakened by the traditional use of sauces providing “tasty but not-so-healthy”
ingredients, such as salt, high-saturated fat, meat and animal-derived lipids (cream or butter).
On the other hand, sauces can be a key source of proteins – deriving either from meat or from
meat substitutes (Aiking and de Boer, 2006; Elzerman et al., 2011) – valuable in counteracting
malnutrition (Constans et al., 1992). Expectations and preferences related to pasta with
“healthy sauces” dressing can be helpful to design recipes of acceptable tastiness in order to
support correct food habit choices. The target of this study was “third-age” people, healthy
and active in society (Burns, 2009), considered to be the optimal segment in providing
information as well as in accepting suggestions about food habits.
Discrete choice experiments (DCEs), derivative of conjoint analysis, were largely developed
for the purpose of market research (Carson et al., 1994). DCEs became popular within a number of
economic disciplines and are now accepted as a valid method for preference elicitation
(Bateman et al., 2002; Louviere et al., 2000; Ryan and Gerard, 2003; Scozzafava et al., 2016;
Vass et al., 2017); they have also been applied to health consciousness on food choice issues
(Ghvanidze et al., 2017; Scozzafava et al., 2017) and used to assess older adults preferences
(Aspinall et al., 2010). This quantitative technique is based on the assumption that any
goods (or services) can be described in terms of their features or attributes and that individual
preferences can be measured based on these observed characteristics. The DCE investigation
method appeared to be an appropriate technique for investigating older adults’ food preferences.
In DCE, the respondents are asked to choose their preferred option from a series of hypothetical
scenarios called choice sets (Vass et al., 2017), which are appropriate for simulating real-life
situations (i.e. food choice at a restaurant) (Scozzafava et al., 2017), to assess the hedonic appeal of
different ingredients.

2. Materials and methods

2.1 Survey on current and past food habits
A survey was conducted with 170 Italian people over 65 years old (average 73), 76 women
and 94 men, living independently, autonomous in food choice and food preparation. Data on
current and past food habits were collected through face-to-face interviews. To ease the task,
questions focused only on the main daily meal (which in Italy is traditionally the meal at
lunchtime). Participants were asked to describe their usual lunch composition by indicating
ten basic components (pasta, meat, fish, dairy products, eggs, legumes, vegetables, fruit,
sweets and wine) and their consumption frequency: null, occasional and daily. In the
questionnaire, legumes were kept separated from other vegetables, because of their different
 BFJ nutritional role and physiological properties. In addition to the above-mentioned ten
120,4 components, participants were also requested to indicate six common additional ingredients
and complements (bread, salt, spices, butter, extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) and oilseed), and
any change in consumption frequency that may have occurred in previous years.

2.2 Pasta sauce formulation

806 This choice-based conjoint analysis was exploited to evaluate hedonic appeal in sauce
recipes. To investigate self-declared preferences, a DCE was conducted, focused on pasta
sauce components. On the basis of the composition of the traditional pasta sauce, red
meat, animal fat, tomato sauce, a model was created to assess the relative importance of
these attributes and the appeal of alternative healthier ingredients (levels). The model was
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based on four key sauce ingredients (attributes): meat, tomato, cooking fat and vegetables.
For each attribute, different levels were proposed: three levels: beef meat (traditional),
chicken meat and no meat; two levels: tomato sauce presence (traditional) or absence; two
levels: butter/cream (traditional) or EVOO; and four levels: mushrooms, zucchini,
eggplants and no vegetables. A full factorial design of the four attributes and relative
levels generated a model, including 48 possible combinations. The whole model was
statistically revised to make the respondents reply only to a fraction of all possible
combinations. Starting from the complete factorial design of the four attributes, an
experimental design optimizing D-efficiency was generated using SAS System Software
9.4 (SAS Institute, Inc., Cary, NC, USA). The SAS procedure simultaneously chose
alternatives of each attribute and combined them into choice sets, resulting in a design
reduced to 16 choice sets (Wattage et al., 2005). Meat was chosen as the key attribute, thus
each choice sets always included the three meat levels, each one combined with a random
choice of the other attribute levels. To simulate a real-life situation, choice sets were
graphically designed as 16 restaurant menu cards, each proposing three sauce recipes.
Choice sets were divided into two blocks of eight menu cards. Respondents received one
block of menu cards each, in randomized order, and for each card, they were requested
to select their favorite option out of the three proposed, or to express a “no choice”
(“Opt-out”). The importance (part-worth utility) of each attribute and level included was
calculated (multinomial logit model) using the PHREG procedure in SAS (SAS Institute,
Inc., Cary, NC, USA) (Kufheld, 2010) (Figure 1).

3. Results
3.1 Food habits
The largest part of the panel declared that their daily lunch was usually based on pasta
(70 percent), vegetables (80 percent) and fruit (87 percent). Daily consumption of dairy
products was close to 30 percent, legumes and meat recorded daily consumption of about
20 percent and fish about 10 percent. About one-third of the interviewed declared to drink
wine every day, although in small quantities. Significant differences in declared usual
lunch composition were recorded between female and male. Women declared a higher
consumption frequency of vegetables (87 percent daily) and sweets (13 percent daily) and
a lower use of wine, pasta and meat (Table I).
The majority of participants reported a change in lunch composition over the years.
About 60 percent reduced their amount of food. For specific ingredients, the most
relevant reductions recorded were for salt (62 percent of respondents), meat and bread
(about 50 percent) and butter and pasta (more than 40 percent). For several other foodstuffs,
significant reductions (20-35 percent) were recorded. Only few of the proposed food items
recorded an increase, the most relevant being in fruit, vegetables, EVOO and fish, with
females reporting a major increase in vegetables as compared to males (Table II).
 MENU CARD 1 Developing
Today tagliatelle with: Your satisfactory
1 Red meat – Butter/cream – Tomato – Zucchini
choice
pasta sauces
2 White meat – Extra Virgin Olive Oil – Mushrooms
3 Butter/Cream – Eggplant

807
MENU CARD 2

Today tagliatelle with: Your

choice
1 Extra Virgin Olive Oil – Tomato
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2 White meat – Butter/Cream – Zucchini

3 Red meat – Butter/Cream – Tomato – Eggplant

MENU CARD 3

Today tagliatelle with: Your

choice
1 White meat – Extra Virgin Olive Oil – Tomato – Mushrooms
2 Butter/Cream – Tomato – Zucchini
3 Red meat – Extra Virgin Olive Oil – Eggplant

Figure 1.
Examples of menu
cards and a moment
of an interview
session

A negative correlation between legumes consumption and respondent’s age was recorded for
both sexes; in women, such negative correlation was observed also for fruit, vegetables and
pasta. Conversely, for men, the correlation between age and pasta consumption was positive.

3.2 DCE test

The maximum likelihood estimates of the parameter values and their related statistics were
analyzed independently for female and male. For both the χ2, estimated values for likelihood
ratio, Score and Wald statistics, indicate that the model is highly significant. At an α-level of
0.01, we would reject the null hypothesis of no relationship between choice and attributes.
All model tests indicate a high level of significance with probability o0.0001. Cooking fat
was widely the most important choice attribute in driving preference with a mean
percentage of 60 percent, followed by meat (Table III).
The maximum likelihood estimates of the parameter values and their related
statistics are presented in Table IV. Descriptive labels for all variables are presented
along with the zero coefficients for the reference levels (i.e. Opt-out, EVOO, no tomato
 BFJ Consumption frequency
120,4 (%)
Lunch component Sex Null Occasional Frequent

Diary F 16.0 56.0 28.0

M 10.6 62.8 26.6
Eggs F 18.7 74.7 6.7
808 M 17.0 79.8 3.2
Fish F 13.3 73.3 13.3
M 9.6 81.9 8.5
Fruit F 4.0 10.7 85.3
M 3.2 8.5 88.3
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Legumes F 14.7 64.0 21.3

M 18.1 60.6 21.3
Meat F 17.3 65.3 17.3*
M 7.5 68.1 24.5
Pasta F 1.3 37.3 61.3**
M 2.1 20.2 77.7
Sweets F 37.3 49.3 13.3***
M 62.8 30.9 6.4
Vegetables F 1.3 12.0 86.7*
M 2.1 23.4 74.5
Table I. Wine F 53.3 21.3 25.3***
Current consumption M 27.7 28.7 43.6
frequency of single- Notes: Pearson χ2 analysis indicates significant differences between male and female (*p ⩽ 0.1; **p ⩽ 0.05;
lunch components ***p ⩽ 0.01)

sauce and no vegetables). The other estimated coefficients of the model have values
related to the reference level.
For female, the part-worth utility (estimated coefficient) for meat attribute, in the option
“Opt-out,” is a structural zero, while the part-worth utilities for beef meat, chicken meat and
meatless sauce are non-zero (0.96, 1.17 and 1.36, respectively, with a level of significance
with probability o0.0001). On the basis of levels estimates, the option “no meat” is
preferred over “chicken” which, in turn, is preferred over “beef.” Also for male, the
part-worth utilities for beef meat, chicken meat and no meat options are all positive with the
highest estimate for beef (1.48), followed by no meat (1.28) and chicken (1.10) with a level of
significance with probability o0.0001).
With regard to cooking fat preferences, the two groups offered similar results, with the
part-worth utility for EVOO, as preferred option, being a structural zero, and with negative
values for butter ( female: −1.79; male: −1.61). Tomato sauce recorded a neutral evaluation
(−0.02) from female, and a positive one (0.33) from male. No significant estimates for any
vegetable were observed in both groups.

4. Discussion
The Mediterranean diet, characterized by a balanced use of foods rich in fiber, antioxidants
and unsaturated fats and a limited consumption of animal fats, is a reference for healthy
food habits. The meal composition as described by respondents was primarily based on
fruit, vegetables and pasta, according to Mediterranean diet features (MDF) (Keys and Keys,
1975; Altomare et al., 2013), potentially providing RDAs of calories and nourishing elements,
including vitamins and minerals. A healthy diet requires a broad approach, as food variety
enables food component needs to be met adequately and comprehensively (Hollis and
Henry, 2007). The interviews showed a varied diet, which included a consistent consumption
 Consumption changes
Developing
(%) Correlation with age satisfactory
Lunch component Gender Reduction No changes Increase (a) (−1 negative to +1 positive) (b) pasta sauces
Diary F 49.3 42.7 8.0 0.10
M 38.3 60.6 1.1 0.13
Eggs F 37.3 58.7 4.0 −0.15
M 35.1 62.8 2.1 −0.04 809
Fish F 32.0 54.7 13.3 −0.15
M 24.5 59.6 15.7 −0.13
Fruit F 9.3 58.7 32.0 −0.27 *
M 17.0 57.5 25.5 −0.03
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Legumes F 22.7 56.0 21.3 −0.40 **

M 20.2 68.1 11.7 −0.22 *
Meat F 57.3 40.0 2.7 0.01
M 50.0 48.9 1.6 −0.03
Pasta F 46.7 42.7 10.7 −0.17
M 48.9 45.7 5.3 0.21 *
Sweets F 42.7 49.3 3.2 −0.10
M 21.3 75.5 3.1 −0.09
Vegetables F 13.3 49.3 37.3 * −0.24 *
M 20.2 56.4 23.4 −0.05
Wine F 46.7 50.7 2.7 0.14
M 40.4 54.3 5.3 0.04
Bread F 54.7 37.3 8.0 −0.18
M 57.5 35.1 7.5 0.02
Extra virgin olive oil F 28.0 53.3 18.7 −0.08
M 27.7 55.3 17.0 −0.04
Seed oil F 37.3 60.0 2.7 0.15
M 31.9 62.8 5.3 0.06
Butter F 44.0 56.0 0.0 0.19
M 42.6 57.5 0.0 −0.06 Table II.
Salt F 65.3 33.3 1.3 0.1 Changes (decrease or
increase in
M 58.1 39.4 2.1 0.06
consumption
Total food amount F 66.7 28.0 5.3 −0.08 frequency during the
M 53.2 42.5 4.3 0.15 last years) reported by
Notes: Correlation of reported variation and changes (−1 ¼ decrease; 0 ¼ no change; 1 ¼ increase). Pearson older consumers for
χ2 analysis indicates significant differences male and female. Significance of Pearson’s correlation coefficient. single-lunch
*p⩽0.05; **p⩽0.01 components

Attribute importance (%)

Women Men Total

Meat 22 23 12
Cooking fat 63 57 70 Table III.
Tomato 1 13 9 Results for the
Vegetables 14 7 9 aggregated choice
100 100 100 model

of dairy products, legumes, meat, fish and occasionally eggs in terms of protein sources.
The respondents’ common attitude of drinking wine, though moderately, but on a daily
basis, is coherent with Italian traditional habits. This is in line with MDF, underlining
beneficial effects of antioxidants and low quantity of ethanol (Criqui and Ringel, 1994;
Gonzalez et al., 2013; Giacosa et al., 2016). However, more than 40 percent respondents
 BFJ Attribute Female Male
120,4 Estimate SE χ2 Pr Wχ2 Estimate SE χ2 PrWχ2

Meat
Beef 0.96 0.19 25.48 o0.0001 1.48 0.17 73.8 o 0.0001
Chicken 1.17 0.19 39.25 o0.0001 1.10 0.17 39.0 o 0.0001
No meat 1.36 0.19 53.04 o0.0001 1.28 0.19 53.7 o 0.0001
810 Opt-out 0 – – – 0 – – –
Cooking fat
Butter or cream −1.79 0.15 144.21 o0.0001 −1.61 0.13 154.36 o 0.0001
Extra virgin olive oil 0 – – – 0 – – –
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Tomato sauce
With −0.02 0.11 0.06 0.81 0.33 0.10 11.54 o 0.001
Without 0 – – – 0 – – –
Table IV. Vegetables
Results of Zucchini 0.01 0.16 0.01 0.92 0.22 0.14 2.50 0.11
(unweighted) Eggplant −0.26 0.17 2.38 0.12 0.01 0.15 0.01 0.92
multinomial logit
regression analysis Mushrooms 0.14 0.16 0.73 0.39 0.14 0.14 1.12 0.28
(inc. maximum No vegetables 0 – – – 0 – – –
likelihood estimates) Notes: Estimates represent the probability that each level will be chosen. Descriptive labels for all attributes
for female and male are printed along with the zero coefficients for the reference levels. Higher estimate value indicates greater
respondents preference level. Pr Wχ2 represents statistical significance that estimate parameter is different from 0

decreased wine drinking habits over time. Participants may either be aware of negative
effects of alcohol on blood pressure (Chiva-Blanch et al., 2012) or of physiological effects of
age-related increased sensitivity to alcohol (Menninger, 2002; Novier et al., 2015).
Men’s meals, as compared to women’s, resulted largely based on pasta and meat.
These findings are in accordance with studies on obesity in Italy, indicating that animal
protein intake was higher in men (Ricci et al., 2014) than in women. On the other hand, the
greater consumption of pasta declared by older men may correspond to their bias toward
more affordable food, easy to prepare, satiating while easy to chew, swallow and digest.
The majority of participants modified their lunch composition over the years. In particular,
more than one-half of men and two-third of women affirmed to have reduced the amount of
food eaten. The general decrease in food quantity can be related to a diminished efficiency of
gastrointestinal systems (Nelson and Castell, 1990; Shamburek and Farrar, 1990), requiring
changes in the quantity and/or quality of foods ingested. Mostly affected by such reduction
was salt, an ingredient frequently correlated with arterial hypertension cardiovascular diseases
(European Guidelines on Cardiovascular Disease Prevention in Clinical Practice, 2012).
The reported reduction also affected other foodstuffs, such as meat and butter, often associated
with hypercholesterolemia and cardiovascular risks (European Guidelines on Cardiovascular
Disease Prevention in Clinical Practice, 2012). Bread and pasta reduction, instead, may be more
related to weight control issues (European Guidelines on Cardiovascular Disease Prevention in
Clinical Practice, 2012). Most of these data, including the increase in EVOO and vegetables
consumption, are clear indicators of healthy food choices.
Previous studies (Hughes et al., 2004; Baker and Wardle, 2003) showed that older men tend to
have poorer dietary intakes including consumption of fewer fruits and vegetables in comparison
to older women. In the interviewed population, a declared increase in fruit and vegetables was
reported, more emphasized among women than among men. However, women of older age
reported a decrease in healthy food components consumption such as fruit and vegetables,
possibly due to economic reasons. Interviews also indicated a reduction in legumes consumption,
possibly related to difficulty in digestion (Tharanathan and Mahadevamma, 2003).
 This nutritional issue should be taken into account, since protein intake is useful in mitigating Developing
functional disability in the older adults (Kim et al., 2011). satisfactory
Hedonic drivers were approached through DCE. Being DCE a quantitative evaluation of pasta sauces
the relative importance of different attributes from an individual perspective, it can be of use
in predicting decisions most likely to be taken. Furthermore, it is suitable for simulating real-
life situations, easy to execute, thanks also to the use of images. All these elements were
useful to approach older adults (Doets and Kremer, 2016). In this study, the DCE test, based 811
on the sequential presentation of “restaurant menu cards” to each participant, was easily
and gladly executed by participants. A clear indication of the test was that “cooking fat”
was the most important attribute in sauce choice. The clear preference for the use of olive oil
as compared to butter indicates at least a considerate approach to the use of lipids, if not a
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complete hedonic perspective. Conjoint analysis is a powerful way to determine whether

there are segments having different mind-sets, values or habits, so that respondents from
different segments are expected to respond to the same elements in different patterns
(Lee et al., 2007). Meat was a key factor in orienting choices and discriminating groups, with
women choosing vegetarian sauces, while men preferring beef meat, and showing a
preference for the presence of tomato sauce.

5. Conclusions
With the world population rapidly ageing − people over 60 are estimated to nearly double
by 2050 (United Nations, 2015) − food habits of older adults require increased
attentiveness. In 2015, among the 7.3 billion people worldwide, an estimated 8.5 percent,
or 617.1 million, were aged 65 and older (He et al., 2016). Italy, where this research was
conducted, is actually one of the countries with the highest percentages: 22 percent
(Italian National Institute for Statistics, 2016). Food habits are closely connected to
cultural and regional legacies, which are particularly enhanced when older adults are
involved, as is the case of this research. Thus, the preference for a particular food or
ingredient has a peculiar value connected to the place where the test is carried out.
Since pasta is the favorite source of carbohydrates in Italy, pasta sauce can be the key to
control other nutritional needs such as proteins and lipids, as addressed by the
“Food Pyramid” (USDA, 1992). DCE results are readily applicable: with regard to the
population sample interviewed, we can assert that women prefer a “vegetarian sauce,”
while men lean toward “beef meat sauce with tomato.”
On the other hand, the proposed protocol for investigating aged people’s present and
past food habits, segmenting the population according to declared preferences and
validating the answers through DCE, can be used and weighted according to local
peculiarities. Food industry has been reported to be slow in transforming the wealth of
available knowledge regarding nutritional needs and sensory perception of ageing into new
food products (Costa and Jongen, 2010; Roberts, 2002). Additionally, older adults may feel
uneasy to change toward healthy eating (Bench-Larsen and Kazbare, 2014).
The protocol set up in this research can be useful to design successful age-oriented food
on sensory basis (Hall and Wendin, 2008), to support food choices adequate to age-imposed
necessities (Collins and Bogue, 2015). Interviewing older adults require special care in order
to avoid refusal and anxiety in respondents. At the beginning, participants were generally
uneasy with interviews and afraid to be under examination or to be teased. To help
familiarization, the test protocol was planned in steps, starting from the simple description
of the daily lunch, going on gradually with a deeper involvement in individual food choice
and then comparing actual food habits with the past ones. Once established a friendly
relationship, the selection of their favorite sauce components was easily performed and,
through the DCE approach, clear results were provided. The research gives a specific view
on Italian older adults’ food behavior and inclination for healthier alternatives to traditional
 BFJ pasta sauce recipes. The direct involvement of older people in health-oriented activities
120,4 has itself a social value. Furthermore, the research protocol can be applied to different
regions and countries, to help stakeholders to identify local food preferences and promote
changes toward healthier food choices.

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Corresponding author
Edoardo Gatti can be contacted at: e.gatti@ibimet.cnr.it

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