ASPIRE Research Institute for Food Security in the Drylands

Dietary Needs, Preferences, Choices, and Awareness of Future Consumers vs. Nutritional Value and Quality of Available Products

Objectives

• To understand consumers’ eating behaviors, food preferences, the determinants of food choices and the attitude towards the consumption of sustainable food products. The development of food habits among the youth will be particularly explored.
• To determine the nutritional properties of diverse newly developed food products as well as their ability to satisfy the consumers’ needs.
• These are the pre-requisites for the design and promotion a sustainable diets in the drylands

Group Members

• Prof. Carine Platat, Subtheme PI,
• Dr. Serene Hilary, Post Doctoral Researcher,
• Souzan Zidan,Ph. D. Student
• Laia Al Bardan, Ph. D. Student,

Bridging Sustainability and Diet: UAE Consumer Insights 

We have developed and validated locally adapted tools to assess eating behaviors, food preferences and consumer attitude towards sustainable food products. These tools are now used to assess dietary behaviors, food choices and attitudes among a large representative sample of the UAE population. These tools are now used to assess dietary behaviors, food choices and attitudes among a large representative sample of the UAE population. Some of the preliminary results are illustrated in the figures below.​

Our group designs tools to assess diet sustainability, promote and personalize sustainable diets for arid environments.  Of particular interest is the attitude of youth towards sustainable food choices

We collaborate With:

• The mushroom farming group, microalgae group, functional food group, and novel food group, to test the nutritional properties of innovative food products an confirm their ability to support diet sustainability in the Drylands
• The food markets group and the farm animal diseases group, to design sage, sustainable diets adapted to the local population and to the local economic context