Focus group examination of the habits of traditional Hungarian meat product consumers

Abstract

Traditional food products present a great opportunity in the competition between imported and domestic food products, because most customers acknowledge the value of their authenticity (Szakály et al., 2004). They are well-known in Hungary and abroad. Traditional meat products are especially well-known, and the Hungarian meat industry has a great past and great traditions. In this survey our aim was to get to know consumers' attitudes and consumption and purchase habits related to meat, especially traditional meat products. We made 3 focus group interviews in 3 towns in South-Transdanubia with 8 participants in each group. As a summary of the focus group discussions’ results, it can be said that the participants have good opinions about the Hungarian meat industry. They trust its products, especially the traditional ones, because these are considered to be more natural and thus healthier. The results confirmed that meat is a product of which customers especially want to know the origin. The largest disadvantage of traditional products is perceived to be their price; this seems to be an increasing problem nowadays. However, if they can be sure that they are really buying a good Hungarian product, customers are willing to pay the higher prices. There is need for a reliable quality and authenticity trademark system to this, because consumers currently face too many nominations. The participants consider the traditions-flavours-regions collection to be a good start, but no one had heard about it prior to the meeting of the focus group, so there is a need for its further popularization. Keywords: tradition, meat industry, meat consumption, focus group