Qualitative Research & Sensory Product Test Trick the Kids / GrowUp Nov-Dec 2009

Qualitative Research & Sensory Product Test Trick the Kids / GrowUp Nov-Dec 2009

Contact isi Marketing Research GmbH & Co. KG Ascherberg 2 37124 Göttingen-Rosdorf Joachim Haag Managing Director Phone: +49 551 499 74 220 Mobile: +49 163 499 74 22 Fax: +49 551 499 74 20 Email: joachim.haag@isi-goettingen.de isi Sensory Analysis GmbH & Co. KG Ascherberg 2 37124 Göttingen-Rosdorf Manuel Rost Project Manager Phone: +49 551 499 74 280 Mobile: +49 163 499 74 17 Fax: +49 551 499 74 20 Email: manuel.rost@isi-goettingen.de

Contents Study characteristics Executive Summary 1. Qualitative Research with Mothers & Children 1.1. Attitudes and behavior regarding children's nutrition 1.2. Concept evaluation 2. Sensory product test with children 2.1. Acceptance of the tomato soup samples 2.2. Acceptance of the clear chicken soup samples

Study characteristics

Study characteristics Nestlé have developed dehydrated soups that cover the nutritional needs of kids but incorporate the goodness and health in a tasty way. Background In terms of food & nutrition, children have specific needs, which are not always easy to meet. For modern mothers, it is becoming more difficult to prepare a healthy and nutritious meal everyday as work & family life is very time consuming. On the other hand, children are becoming more demanding in terms of taste and most of them do not like what is really good and healthy. In fact, several scientific studies (e.g. DACH) have shown that children are not getting enough of certain nutrients, e.g. fiber/grains and calcium, which are fundamental for their healthy growth. Nestlé has identified a platform: “Trick the Kids”, in order to develop products to incorporate and hide the goodness & health of food in a funny and tasty way that children would like. Within this platform, the soup category has identified potential for nutritionally enhanced soups (Project name= Growup), specifically designed to cover some of the nutritional needs of 8-12y children. Within this project, the soup category has worked on possible concepts including prototypes.

Study characteristics Furthermore, the study’s outcome can support the expansion of the “Trick the Kids” platform into additional product developments. • Business objectives • With the mothers: • To accumulate a better and deeper understanding on the overall thoughts and feelings regarding their children's healthy nutrition • To generate insights which can help expanding the “Trick the Kids” platform into further product developments. • Within this framework, to refine “in situ” the available soup concepts • With the children: • To understand better the children's taste attributes which drive sensorial preference in food • To accumulate information for refining the available soup prototypes • To understand the impact of wholegrain pasta on taste and the overall product perception

Study characteristics New prototypes developed by Nestlé were tested by children and their attitude towards soups was disclosed in qualitative sessions. • Research objectives • Understand mothers’ attitudes and behaviors towards their growing children’s taste and nutritional needs i.e. issues, frustrations etc. • Understand in depth with mothers the relevance and their current understanding/awareness of the scientific/governmental indications(DAC) and policies(for children) on salt, fat and nutrients like calcium, whole grain, etc • Refine and consolidate the “GrowUp Soup” product concepts, and align them with the feasible solutions for the prototypes • Via a qualitative session and also through testing of children’s acceptance of the new prototypes developed by Nestlé, understand children’s attitude towards food • Via testing the children’s acceptance of the new prototypes developed by Nestlé, understand the wholegrain pasta impact on taste and the overall product perception

Study characteristics To collect the relevant information a 3-stage approach was realized. • Component 1 | Qualitative focus groups with mothers • 4 focus groups in Göttingen, Germany • Understand mothers’ attitudes and behaviors towards their growing children’s taste and nutritional needs • Understand the relevance and their current understanding/awareness of the scientific/governmental (DAC) indications and policies (for children) • Refinement session of two concepts (Benefits and RTB’s and artwork design prototypes). • Component 2 | Creative workshops with kids in the age of 8-10 and 11-12 years • 4 focus groups in Göttingen, Germany parallel to the focus groups of the mothers • Understand children’s attitude towards food, what they like/ dislike about soup • Brainstorm with children to create their favorite menus • Component 3 | Quantitative survey - Sensory product test with children • Consumer test with 200 children in Göttingen and Cologne • Finding out which variant and recipe receives the highest acceptance among children • Identifying possible factors of sensory improvement based upon children’s opinions Summary & recommendations for new product developments

Study characteristics Research approach & sample structure │ Component 1 Data collection: 4 qualitative focus groups with mothers (2h) Market: Germany Fieldwork: November 2009 Sample:Mothers of 8-12 year old children, they do not reject dehydrated food products, healthy nutrition is important to them 50% heavy users of dehydrated products (at least several times a week) | 50% light users of dehydrated products (once a week or less often), Sample size: n=24

Study characteristics Research approach & sample structure │ Component 2 Data collection: 4 creative workshops with kids between 8-12 years (2h) Market: Germany Fieldwork: November 2009 Sample:Children, age: 2 groups 8-10 years | 2 groups 11-12 years Mothers do not reject dehydrated food products, healthy nutrition is important to the mothers 50% of the mothers are heavy users of dehydrated products (at least several times a week) | 50% light users of dehydrated products (once a week or less often) Sample size: n=24

Study characteristics Research approach & sample structure │ Component 3 Data collection: Sensory consumer test with children between 8-12 years (20 minutes), Test is run under standardized conditions in a sensory lab, it is split into two monadic cells (evaluating one of the two recipes each soup variety) Self completed PC questionnaire Market: Göttingen and Hamburg (Germany) Fieldwork: November 2009 Sample:Children (male and female), 2 groups: 8-10 years | 2 groups 11-12 years Mothers do not reject industrial food products, Children are no tomato and chicken soups rejecters, Children are no pasta rejecters, Children have no food allergies, Children will not have participated in component 2, i.e. are not influenced by prior discussions of the topic, No participation in a Sensory Test with foods and beverages in the last 3 months Sample size: n=160 each soup variety

Executive Summary

Executive Summary [1] Regarding children's nutrition mothers are in a psychological area of conflict. There are three main dimensions that need to be balanced. The illustration below shows the psychological area of conflict mothers get into when thinking about children’s nutrition. There are three main dimensions that need to be balanced. In mothers' minds, each pole (which can be seen as a kind of motive) wants to be considered but always has to find an arrangement with the opposite pole. From a psychological perspective, providing good nutrition for children means keeping the whole system in balance. Depending on different conditions, balancing the requirements succeeds more or less. That means in certain situations one dimension or even one pole is dominating the others, and it is up to the mothers to recreate the balance again. (Self-)Determination and decidedness /Self preparation Ideal conception of health & healthy nutrition Traditional way of cooking / Habits, something familiar Modern way of cooking / Something unfamiliar Indetermination and variety of options / Convenience food Reality / conditions and barriers in everyday life

Executive Summary [2] The trade-off between mothers’ “ideal of an healthy nutrition” and “reality”, i.e. restrictions in everyday life, is the most important conflict in the model. The ideal conception of health and healthy nutrition goes hand in hand with various conditions, barriers and restrictions in everyday life. That leads to a discrepancy between theory and practice, that means betweenthinking about healthy nutrition and acting accordingly. Hence, ideal conceptions often stay ideals and are hard to achieve. "Ideals" | Ideal conception of health & healthy nutrition Healthy food Balanced Food Delicious Food "Reality" | Conditions, barriers and restrictions in everyday life Knowledge Personal conditions External factors … about precaution Children's taste Costs/prices … about nutrients Time Purchase & storage … about indications, policies or programs Cooking/preparation Temptations Uncertainties One's weaker self

Executive Summary [3] Conclusions | Help mothers to find a balance between “ideal conception of healthy nutrition” and “reality”, i.e. conditions and barriers in everyday life Conclusions [1] Resulting from the knowledge about the area of conflict the following ideas & approaches for Nestlé can be derived: • Consider that “healthy nutrition” is an abstract • construct and not a detailed plan • Show desirable “slices of life” in communication campaigns instead of trying to educate mothers • Conveying a positive overall feeling might be more promising than detailed “ingredient X is good for benefit Y” arguments – “healthy nutrition” and “is good for my kids” are very abstract constructs and mothers hardly plan based on ingredient and nutrient lists… • Present situations that refer to mothers’ ideal of good & healthy nutrition (healthy children who like the food, good mood at the table etc.) and make clear how Nestlé products could help to reach them • Think about “family products” instead of “children’s products” • If the mothers’ ideal is a “cooking & eating process” that is experienced by the whole family then it might be promising to think about “family products” instead of pure “children’s offers”. • This marketing approach might also reduce skepticism that automatically comes up when parents look at dedicated children’s products.

Executive Summary [4] Conclusions | Help mothers to find a balance between “ideal conception of healthy nutrition” and “reality”, i.e. conditions and barriers in everyday life Conclusions [2] Resulting from the knowledge about the area of conflict the following ideas & approaches for Nestlé can be derived: • Give mothers a “sufficient but riskless degree of freedom” • in the preparation process • Give them the chance to add individually selected (healthy) ingredients • Help them feel like creating their own work and be proud of it • Basically eliminate the risk of failure and save them a lot of time • Make clear healthy cooking does not need much time & cooking skills • reduce the inhibition threshold of many mothers by offering easy and quick but healthy solution • base argumentation on situations mothers often get into: children are about to come home from school , mothers need inspiration what to cook quickly and without large effort etc. • Show possibilities to add & hide healthy ingredients • (especially vegetables) that children normally do not like • e.g. cut vegetables into tiny pieces, puree or top & brown it with cheese. • offer convenience food in which children cannot see a disliked healthy ingredient (e.g. carrots) but mothers do know that the goodness out of it is still contained (e.g. vitamin A).

Executive Summary [5] Conclusions | Help mothers to find a balance between “ideal conception of healthy nutrition” and “reality”, i.e. conditions and barriers in everyday life Conclusions [3] Resulting from the knowledge about the area of conflict the following ideas & approaches for Nestlé can be derived: • Meet children half-way • Pay respect to the fact that especially older children are strongly influenced by peer groups and like “bad things” like Doner Kebap, Burger or Pizza. • Think about product concepts like “Healthy Burgers” or “Veggie Doner” to meet them half-way • Motivate mothers to include their children in the cooking process • Provide tips for joint cooking and for arranging a meal in an appealing an playful manner. • Make sure mothers have the right equipment to prepare the meals • Cross-promotion with kitchen equipment manufacturers • Facilitate shopping & planning for the next few days • Offer shopping & ingredient planner on-shelf and/or online or via SMS • Weekly email newsletter with recipe suggestions for family meals • Develop & promote healthy snacks/food-to-go for school/sports • Provide children with the possibility to eat something healthy and tasty when they are not at home.

Executive Summary [6] Conclusions | Ways to familiarize children with healthy nutrition or even convince them of cooking From a psychological point of view, the following four steps should be considered when trying to familiarize children with healthy nutrition or even convince them of cooking convenience food containing healthy ingredients.

Executive Summary [7] Concept evaluation | The tested GrowUp soup concepts still show some areas for improvement. Wholegrain might be a “psychological problem”. • Qualitative concept evaluation • The ‘skater boy design’was clearly preferred by most of the mothers and polarized among the children. It attracts slightly more attention but the design seems to be more targeted to younger children. Older ones and most of their mothers describe it as a little childish. The ‘board design’appeared to be less noticeable and eye-catching to the mothers, and was partly more accepted by the children because the ‘skater boy’ and the face in the word junior were left out. Considering the fact that mothers take the buying decision the ‘skater boy design’ might probably be favored. • For mothers it is important to see some healthy ingredients (e.g. carrots, herbs) on the package, particularly in the pictured soup. Children pay less attention to this or are even happy if they are left away. • While tomato soup was less attractive to the mothers (because it reminds them of ravioli), children do like both chicken and tomato soup. • The size of the noodles was deterrent for mothers but did not matter for children. • The claims “vitamin A + fibers” and “mildly salted” are too abstract. Mothers rather want to have a link to the origin of the food (e.g. sun-ripened tomatoes, fresh chicken). Moreover, the claims should rather exem-plify the concrete benefit, i.e. what the nutrients are good for (e.g. “with Vitamin A for good sight”). • The idea of wholegrain noodles is doubted by some mothers because they are afraid their children will reject them. In fact, many children do not even perceive any taste difference between normal and wholegrain pasta though.

Executive Summary [8] Sensory Test Results | Tomato soup - No significant acceptance differences between normal pasta and wholegrain pasta can be proven. • Tomato soup: • The normal pasta and wholegrain pasta sample receive the same high acceptance scores in terms of overall and pasta liking. The children do not differentiate significantly between both varieties, thus. • The younger age group assigns higher acceptance scores to the soups than the “older” age group. • Within the open-ended questions the respondents state for both soups, that they like “the flavour” (normal pasta: 36% of respondents / wholegrain pasta: 33% of respondents), “the noodles” (normal pasta: 23% / wholegrain pasta: 27%), “the intensity of tomato flavour” (normal pasta: 18% / wholegrain pasta: 25%) and “the whole combination of tomato soup and noodles” (normal pasta: 17% / wholegrain pasta: 14%). • In terms of criticising statements, comparable few mentions were specified, e.g. “soup is flavourless” (normal pasta: 7% / wholegrain pasta: -). • Also the closed statement question rating shows no significant, but only very minor, difference between the soup varieties. About 85% of the kids like the normal, about 80% like the wholegrain pasta.

Executive Summary [9] Sensory Test Results | Clear chicken soup - No significant acceptance differences between normal pasta and wholegrain pasta can be proven. • Clear chicken soup: • The normal pasta and wholegrain pasta sample receive similarly high acceptance scores in terms of overall and pasta liking. The children do not differentiate significantly between both varieties, thus. • In terms of pasta liking, significant acceptance scores for 8-10 year olds vs. 11-12 year olds can be proven. The younger age group assigns higher acceptance scores to the pasta than the “older” age group. • Within the open-ended questions the respondents state for both soups, that they like “the flavour” (normal pasta: 37% of respondents / wholegrain pasta: 44% of respondents), “the noodles” (normal pasta: 30% / wholegrain pasta: 32%) and “the taste of the noodles” (normal pasta: 25% / wholegrain pasta: 18%). • In terms of criticising statements, comparable few mentions were specified, e.g. “taste of the noodles” (normal pasta: - / wholegrain pasta: 6%) and “lack of chicken meat” (normal pasta: 5% / wholegrain pasta: 6%). • The closed statement question rating shows a slight difference: The noodles of the wholegrain pasta sample are perceived significantly more often as darker (15% of respondents) than the noodles of the normal pasta sample (2% of respondents). Even though, the number of mentions is comparably low. • The statement “the noodles are great” is assigned more often to the normal pasta sample (about 85%) than to the wholegrain pasta (about 75%). This difference is not significant.

Executive Summary [10] Sensory Test | Nothing speaks against a wholegrain pasta application in tomato and clear chicken soup. • Conclusion & Recommendation (Sensory Performance of Soups) • One core question of this project is to research whether the children perceive a difference between normal and wholegrain pasta in soup or not. This objective is primarily evaluated via asking for liking acceptance of the soup overall and the pasta: • Both soup varieties, regardless of the pasta type, are rated on a high acceptance level. Considering the results of the tomato and clear chicken soup consumer test, it can be proven, that the children do not perceive a significant difference in terms of liking – not even in the direct question regarding pasta. • Even though, the appearance of the clear chicken soup wholegrain pasta is noticed as different in colour. By trend it can be found that the different pasta appearance is slightly better masked in the more viscous and more colour-intense tomato soup than in the clear chicken soup. • According to the above-mentioned findings, nothing speaks against a wholegrain pasta application in tomato and clear chicken soup from a sensory point of view, provided that the concept is able to attract mothers and motivates them to buy the soup.

1. Qualitative research 1.1. Attitudes & behavior regarding children‘s nutrition

Attitudes & behavior | Psychological impact structure 1.1 Regarding children's nutrition mothers are in a psychological area of conflict. There are three main dimensions that need to be balanced. The illustration below shows the psychological area of conflict mothers get into when thinking about children’s nutrition. There are three main dimensions that need to be balanced. In mothers' minds, each pole (which can be seen as a kind of motive) wants to be considered but always has to find an arrangement with the opposite pole. From a psychological perspective, providing good nutrition for children means keeping the whole system in balance. Depending on different conditions, balancing the requirements succeeds more or less. That means in certain situations one dimension or even one pole is dominating the others, and it is up to the mothers to recreate the balance again. (Self-)Determination and decidedness /Self preparation Ideal conception of health & healthy nutrition Traditional way of cooking / Habits, something familiar Modern way of cooking / Something unfamiliar Indetermination and variety of options / Convenience food Reality / conditions and barriers in everyday life

Attitudes & behavior | Psychological impact structure 1.1 Dimension 1: Tradition & Habits vs. Modernity & Novelty Traditional way of cooking / Habits, something familiar Modern way of cooking / Something unfamiliar Traditional way of cooking / Habits, something familiar On the one hand, mothers are used to a traditional way of cooking that they have learned from their mothers. According to this a meal generally consists of meat or fish (often accompanied by a sauce), vegetables and a side dish. The advantage of this way of cooking is that the recipes are well-known and familiar. This is very convenient because you don’t have to be very creative when you rely on your habits. The disadvantage is that this way of cooking normally takes a lot of time (for buying fresh ingredients and preparing the meal). Additionally it is not as healthy as required, e.g. when butter or oil are used for roasting or frying the meat/fish, or when cream or crème fraiche is used for thickening the sauce. Modern way of cooking / Something unfamiliar On the other hand, there is the modern way of cooking including quickly prepared meals (thanks to aiding products like sauce thickener, instant broth, ready-made sauces or Maggi-fix products) and fast food, but also a certain curiosity and openness for experiments. Cooking the same again and again quickly becomes boring. There have to be new impulses and ideas. Modern way of cooking also means to deal with latest findings and insights about (healthy) nutrition which might be contradictory to what they learned from their mothers. More than once, this requires taking new perspectives which is a complex cognitive process.

Attitudes & behavior | Psychological impact structure 1.1 Dimension 2: (Self-)Determination vs. Indetermination (Self-)Determination and decidedness / Self preparation Cooking is always a matter of decisions, e.g.: What shall I cook today? Should I cook something ordinary or something demanding? - No matter which question is asked, a decision must be taken by the mothers.Cooking also means creating an own work and being proud of it. Having an own part in preparing the meal increases the self-esteem. That’s why it is important to keep a certain degree of freedom in deciding which meal is prepared and in which way. Indetermination and variety of options / Convenience food Making decisions is not easy, because there is not only the mother who decides what to cook but also the children. Moreover the wide variety of dishes and ways of preparation may sometimes overstrain the mothers. Planningand organizing a warm, healthy & freshly cooked meal for every day of the week is perceived as being laborious and challenging. It can make you feel lost in options.Mothers do not always want to worry about nutrition affairs themselves. To a certain extent they also want to rely on the knowledge, skills and experience of others/experts. In these situations, convenience food gains in importance. (Self-)Deter-mination and decidedness /Self preparation Indetermination and variety of options / Convenience food

Attitudes & behavior | Psychological impact structure 1.1 Dimension 3: Ideal conception vs. Reality in everyday life This dimension turned out to be the most important one when trying to understand mothers' attitudes and behaviours towards healthy nutrition of their children. Ideal conception of health and healthy nutrition Each mother wants to be a good mother who ensures the healthy development of her child/children - it is both socially desired and an honest goal/wish of the mothers. So they have a kind of ideal conception in their minds what guaranteeing health and healthy nutrition should look like. Reality / conditions and barriers in everyday life In everyday life, mothers often recognize that they cannot always meet their own ambitious goals regarding healthy nutrition. There is a variety of internal and external factors that prevent mothers from realizing their wishes and plans in practice. Various conditions, barriers and restrictions are responsible for the trade-off between health-conscious thinking and acting. Ideal conception of health & healthy nutrition Reality / conditions and barriers in everyday life

Attitudes & behavior | Dimension “Ideals vs. Reality” 1.1 Ideals have to be reconciled with reality. Getting to know how mothers cope with this requirement leads to new approaches and product ideas. To combine the ideal conceptions of health & healthy nutrition, and reality (that means conditions, barriers and restrictions in everyday life), mothers have developed individual solutions, compromises, alternatives and solutions. Learning more about these attitudes and individual solutions is the first step to detect consumer needs, to reveal new ideas and to develop creative approaches for open questions. a) Ideal conception of health & healthy nutrition b) Reality / conditions and barriers in everyday life c) Individual solutions, compromises, alternatives and resorts d) Potential approaches for Nestlé

Attitudes & behavior | Dimension “Ideals vs. Reality” 1.1 a) "Ideals" | Definition of health / healthy nutrition: Meaning of "good for my kids" = healthy, balanced and delicious Nutrition that is stated as "good for my kids" by the mothers should fulfil three main criteria: be healthy be balanced be delicious • That means: • rich in vitamins (e.g. fruits and vegetables) • nutrient-rich (e.g. proteins, calcium) • mind sugar (e.g. eat few sweets) • mind fat (e.g. eat low-/reduced fat food) • seldom/not often fast food • satiable, to meet energy requirements • several (5 little) meals a day • drink a lot • That means: • diversified = not the same food every day (e.g. in school: one day an additionally apple, a carrot, a piece of cucumber, etc.) • varied = no similar meals / same ingredients at one day after another • miscellaneous, e.g. meals with meat, side dish (rice, potatoes, etc.) & vegetables, partly even with a sweet dessert • That means: • eating the favourite dish once in a while • don't force the children to eat food they do not like

Attitudes & behavior | Dimension “Ideals vs. Reality” 1.1 • "Ideals" | Definition of health / healthy nutrition: What does health(y) mean? Which health concerns can be controlled by nutrition? To list health concerns that can/could be controlled by nutrition is no easy task for the mothers. It takes time until detailed examples are mentioned. This shows that for many mothers healthy nutrition is more an abstract construct than something that is conscious or available at once. Nevertheless, the following critical health concerns were accumulated across the focus groups: • immune system | strengthen the body's defences • teeth | avoid caries or other teeth diseases • skin | avoid acne/spots • bones | ensure a strong bone structure • growth | ensure an age-appropriate height • metabolism | avoid digestive disorders • cardiovascular system | avoid high blood pressure • general well-being | adjustment of nutritional deficiencies • mental ability & good brain function/development • physical ability (sports) | build-up of muscles • physique | avoid obesity In principle, mothers know that (some of) these health concerns can/shall be controlled by nutrition in some way. But for most of them it is more or lessa general goal to ensure a healthy constitution of their kids than knowing concrete measures to achieve this.

Attitudes & behavior | Dimension “Ideals vs. Reality” 1.1 • "Reality" | Conditions, barriers and restrictions in everyday life: Overview The ideal conception of health and healthy nutrition goes hand in hand with various conditions, barriers and restrictions in everyday life. That leads to a discrepancy between theory and practice, that means betweenthinking about healthy nutrition and acting accordingly. Hence, ideal conceptions often stay ideals and are hard to achieve. "Ideals" | Ideal conception of health & healthy nutrition Healthy food Balanced Food Delicious Food "Reality" | Conditions, barriers and restrictions in everyday life Knowledge Personal conditions External factors … about precaution Children's taste Costs/prices … about nutrients Time Purchase & storage … about indications, policies or programs Cooking/preparation Temptations Uncertainties One's weaker self

Attitudes & behavior | Dimension “Ideals vs. Reality” 1.1 • "Reality" | Conditions, barriers and restrictions in everyday life: Knowledge (I) Knowledge about precaution Hardly any mother has got an concrete health or nutrition plan for her child/children. Detailed precaution possibilities are not conscious in their minds. They rather refer to general knowledge about healthy nutrition. The findings shown in the table below are accumulated results across the four focus groups. No mother could mention all the influences on health concerns but only about 4 to 5 of them. "Reality":Restricted knowledge … about precaution

Attitudes & behavior | Dimension “Ideals vs. Reality” 1.1 • "Reality" | Conditions, barriers and restrictions in everyday life: Knowledge (I) Knowledge about nutrients Many mothers rely on implicit assumptions rather than having detailed knowledge about nutrients. Often they have no idea which food contains which nutrients, or which nutrients have which health benefit. Awareness about positive and negative nutrients is only superficially developed. Additionally, there are clear uncertainties regarding the knowledge which fruits or vegetables contain which vitamins. "Reality":Restricted knowledge … about nutrients • Nutrients that are perceived to be positive/healthy: • vitamins • fibres • minerals • omega-3-fatty acids • vegetable fat • Nutrients that are perceived to be negative/unhealthy: • sugar • (animal) fat • Nutrients that are perceived to be positive/healthy or negative/unhealthy depending on the amount of consumption: • sodium • proteins Clear uncertainties concerning oils and (un)saturated fatty acids. - Which are healthy? Which are unhealthy?

Attitudes & behavior | Dimension “Ideals vs. Reality” 1.1 • "Reality" | Conditions, barriers and restrictions in everyday life: Knowledge (II) "Reality":Restricted knowledge • Knowledge about indications, policies or programs • General information sources • Regarding healthy nutrition, many mothers trust in and act according to their own feelings & experiences, so that it is the “most reliable” source for them. • Apart from that most common sources regarding healthy nutrition are: • women's, parents', family or "better living" magazines • TV programs (e.g. 'Galileo', 'Wissenshunger' or similar), TV cooking shows • friends, other mothers with children of the same age • programs in Kindergarten, school or sport clubs (specific names are unknown) • programs from doctors and/or health insurances (especially in cases of obesity) • children cookbooks • internet: • mainly using Google and searching for certain recipes but not for healthy nutrition in particular • recipe websites as www.marions-kochbuch.de or www.chefkoch.de • seldom parental or educational websites as www.eltern.de • Interestingly, the own mothers/parentsare not a great help, because they often stand for an unhealthy nutrition with lots of fat (butter, cream, roast) and sugar. Moreover, they often cook solid and rich food in oversized portions. In addition, they rather want to pamper their grandchildren (e.g. with sweets) instead of following a strict (health) education. … about indications, policies or programs

Attitudes & behavior | Dimension “Ideals vs. Reality” 1.1 • "Reality" | Conditions, barriers and restrictions in everyday life: Knowledge (III) "Reality":Restricted knowledge • Knowledge about indications, policies or programs • Specific nutrition programs • The "Food Pyramid"is generally best known but mothers often do not have a clear idea which kind of food is placed at which position of the pyramid so that lots of uncertainties and mistakes arise. • "5 a day" programis vaguely known by some mothers. The rules can easily be kept in mind but it is difficult to realize them in everyday life. • "Schule + Essen = Note 1"is completely unknown. The only thing mothers know is that educators or teachers have a look at the food children bring to kindergarten / school, or that children learn something about nutrition playfully. • "NutriKid"is still unknown. The idea behind this program is well accepted but scep-ticism arises because a commercial brand (Nestlé) would be the initiator. So doubts arise about the objectivity of the information/tips. Additionally, there are speculations about a kind of promotion for the brand's products. Therefore, it is recommended to communicate the program apart from the product context (e.g. on a separate page on the website). … about indications, policies or programs

Attitudes & behavior | Dimension “Ideals vs. Reality” 1.1 • "Reality" | Conditions, barriers and restrictions in everyday life: Knowledge (IV) Uncertainties Another fact that prevents mothers from complying with their ideals regarding healthy nutrition is that there are many uncertainties concerning the question which products are more healthy, e.g. frozen vegetables or fresh vegetables from abroad which had a long transport, were grown in green houses or maybe were treated with pesticides. Moreover, there are uncertainties which arise from past and/or present food scandals (e.g. swine fever, bird flu, BSE). "Reality":Restricted knowledge Uncertainties

Attitudes & behavior | Dimension “Ideals vs. Reality” 1.1 • "Reality" | Conditions, barriers and restrictions in everyday life: Personal conditions (I) Children's taste Even if mothers have a certain knowledge about healthy nutrition and are disposed to cook a healthy meal they are hindered to do so by their kids. The children’s favourite dishes are often not healthy (enough) or at least not as healthy as the mothers would like them to be. Besides, many children do not like healthy meals or healthy ingredients. Another problem is that children/members of the same family have different tastes or like different things best. In this case, mothers either to have to cook for everybody separately (hardly possible) or to find the right balance between the different preferences. "Reality":Restrictive personal conditions Children’s taste Time Time is a big factor that makes it very difficult for mothers to always meet their “nutrition & cooking ideals”. Time limits become apparent at different stages: "Reality":Restrictive personal conditions • restricted shopping time: buying food in different shops (greengrocer, wholefood shop, butcher, etc.) and/or several times a week needs time • restricted timefor cooking: mothers have a full timetable and are restricted by a job, the household, and activities like their own or children’s hobbies • restricted timefor preparing the meal creatively, appealing and in a funny/playful manner • children come back from school at different times Time

Attitudes & behavior | Dimension “Ideals vs. Reality” 1.1 • "Reality" | Conditions, barriers and restrictions in everyday life: Personal conditions (II) Cooking/preparation In everyday life, mothers are confronted with several problems concerning the cooking/preparation process, that means: "Reality":Restrictive personal conditions Cooking/preparation • (extremely) time-consuming recipes/preparation • complex recipes concerning quantity and kind of (extraordinary) ingredients • lack of kitchen equipment / kitchen aids for certain recipes or ways of preparation which could simplify and accelerate the cooking process (e.g. a spice mill) • lack of recipe ideas • lack of creativity concerning anappealing and funny/playful preparation of the meal • lack of creativity how to "trick" the kids, e.g. in hiding healthy ingredients • having to consider different predispositions (e.g. obesity) of the children One's weaker self (“Innerer Schweinehund”) Not cooking as healthy as ideally required is also a matter of convenience, i.e. sometimes mothers are simply too lazy for elaborate cooking. Furthermore, some mothers have an aversion against regular planning and sticking to a weekly purchase & food plan - they rather like spontaneity. In addition, some mothers confess a reluctance concerning thinking about a meal, its components and/or its health value. "Reality":Restrictive personal conditions One’s weaker self

Attitudes & behavior | Dimension “Ideals vs. Reality” 1.1 • "Reality" | Conditions, barriers and restrictions in everyday life: External factors (I) Costs/Prices Some mothers complain about high costs/prices for healthy food (e.g. "bio"-products, low-fat products, healthy meat). The cost factor mainly has an impact on families with many members and/or a low household income. "Reality": Restrictive external factors Cost/Prices Purchase & storage Not always cooking in a fresh and healthy way is also being justified by the limited storage life of fresh ingredients so that mothers feel being restricted in buying long in advance. Additionally, they remark that not all goods are available at every time (of the year). "Reality": Restrictive external factors Purchase & storage Temptations Mothers cannot “control” their children at any time. When children are away they independently buy sweets/confec-tionary at kiosks, at the bakery, in school or eat unhealthy things when they meet with friends. Moreover, children nibble (a lot) when they are at home. "Reality": Restrictive external factors Temptations

Attitudes & behavior | Dimension “Ideals vs. Reality” 1.1 • Individual solutions, compromises, alternatives and resorts- for restricted knowledge Mothers are aware of the discrepancy between their inner ideal conceptions regarding a healthy nutrition and the conditions, barriers & restrictions in everyday life. They know that they sometimes behave contrary to their attitudes, wishes and goals. Holding these contradictory aspects simultaneously causes an uncomfortable feeling (cognitive dissonance). To reduce the cognitive dissonance they either change, justify or rationalize their attitudes, beliefs and/or behaviors. For each dissonance between “ideals” and “reality” mothers have developed their own solutions, compromises, and alternatives. "Reality":Restricted knowledge Individual solutions, compromises & alternatives … about precaution • keep on informing oneself by accident - seldom it is a directed information search, unless there is a specific reason (e.g. obesity) • rely on the intuition & experiences • get inspired by children cookbooks … about nutrients … about indications, policies or programs • buy frozen instead of fresh vegetables assuming it would be healthier (additionally it is very convenient and time-saving, because it is already washed, peeled, sliced and/or pre-cooked) • avoid food/products that are involved in food scandals • buy from the trader (or brand?) of trust only Uncertainties

Attitudes & behavior | Dimension “Ideals vs. Reality” 1.1 • Individual solutions, compromises, alternatives and resorts- for restrictive personal conditions (I) Regarding the dissonance between the inner ideal of a healthy nutrition, and fact that children often like less healthy food, the following compensations have been found. "Reality":Restrictive pers. conditions Individual solutions, compromises & alternatives • serve the (unhealthy) favourite dish but at least offer a healthy dessert (e.g. applesauce, fresh or stewed fruits) • offer fruits & vegetables in between / during the day or in the evening while watching TV (instead of chips) • offer and let try refused dishes again from time to time, because taste changes • ignore children’s complaints about reputedly awful tasting food • "negotiations": "If you eat the vegetables today, tomorrow/at the weekend/soon you can have pizza." • "trick" the kids / hide healthy ingredients: e.g. escallop, puree or cut up vegetables in tiny pieces, bake self-made pizza and let the kid do the topping with vegetables • treat each child individually and only cook what they like (but it is challenging regarding time, costs and nerves) Children's taste

Attitudes & behavior | Dimension “Ideals vs. Reality” 1.1 • Individual solutions, compromises, alternatives and resorts- for restrictive personal conditions (II) "Reality":Restrictive pers. conditions Individual solutions, compromises & alternatives • avoid laborious and time-consuming recipes/meals • switch to cookconvenience food (rather frozen food than tins; rather instant meals e.g. Maggi-fix products, than ready-to-serve-meals as microwave dishes) • deposit convenience food in the kitchen so that it can be prepared by the children themselves when mother is not at home • get inspired by the Maggi-fix shelves in the supermarket • add fresh vegetables (e.g. carrots, kohlrabi) to convenience food • offer a healthy dessert after having served convenience food • cooking convenience food on weekdays and serving self-made meals on weekends • get inspired by children cookbooks • cooking ahead (and freeze a part of the meal) to easily warm-up the meal on another day • alternate in cooking with the partner or the grandmother • let the kids have lunch in school • involve children in the buying / cooking process in a funny & playful way (let them do the preliminary work as peeling, cutting, stirring) Time Cooking/preparation One's weaker self

Attitudes & behavior | Dimension “Ideals vs. Reality” 1.1 • Individual solutions, compromises, alternatives and resorts- for restricting external factors Last but not least the following behaviors result when “ideals” and “reality” clash because of external factors: Individual solutions, compromises & alternatives "Reality": Restricting external factors • buy cheaper "normal" (no "bio"), frozen or convenience food • buy frozen or convenience food instead of fresh food (e.g. vegetables, meat, fish) • some mothers do not allow their children to take along pocket money in school • let the children eat something healthy (e.g. fruits, vegetables) before they are allowed to eat sweets • cutting fruits and/or vegetables in bite-sized pieces and/or “spear them on a spit” or arrange them in funny shapes (faces, animals, little towers) • setting a limit for sweets (e.g. filling the "treasure chest" only once a week) Costs/prices Purchase & storage Temptations

Attitudes & behavior | … towards convenience food 1.1 Convenience food is rather a less-than-ideal solution. Relevance of convenience food Convenience food is often used as a compromise for providing a warm meal when mothers feel being restricted by time, preparation skills, one’s weaker self, costs and/or purchase & storage possibilities. It provides many advan-tages but mothers also perceive several disadvantages that make them sceptical or prevent them from buying.

Attitudes & behavior | … towards convenience food 1.1 Mothers prefer convenience food that allows quick preparation of the meal and individual addition of natural ingredients. Appreciation of convenience food In general, convenience products that promise being “natural”, “free from artificial flavors” or “free from colorants” or “free from preserving agents” are clearly favored over products on which these aspects are not stated. However, these benefits are not a necessary condition for buying such products. Mothers are rather delighted if a product they chose additionally provides those qualities. Moreover, many mothers appreciate Maggi-fix products as they allow to “combine” the ideas of self-made and convenience food. It is no complete ready-made food but only a “little helper”. You still use fresh ingredients and therefore have the feeling to create your own work. To a “pleasant degree” the success or failure still depends on the own cooking skills so that one can be proud of the result. The need of some fresh ingredients also allows mothers to include their children in the cooking process as they need a helping hand e.g. for peeling or cutting vegetables or for stirring in the powder - and these are actions children like.

Attitudes & behavior | Shopping & cooking with and for kids 1.1 Shopping with children may be an assistance but is often perceived as more time-consuming and annoying. Shopping with children Only some mothers let accompany oneself by their children for shopping. Partly, they let the kids assist them with collecting the products so that they can save time. Few mothers send their kids to do some chance purchases. Some mothers go shopping in their lunch break, or on their way home, or when their kids are away, e.g. still in school, pursue their hobbies or visit friends. So some kids do not have the possibility to accompany their mothers for shopping at all. Many mothers argue that taking along their children for shopping would be too time-consuming and too annoying because children often want to have something that mothers do not want them to buy (e.g. sweets, chips, ice-cream) or children become impatient.

Attitudes & behavior | Shopping & cooking with and for kids 1.1 Normally not many mothers look at nutrition labels on the products, even less on packed soups. “bio” products are highly controversial. Shopping for children When buying food for their kids, nutrition labels are mainly read when obesity is an issue in the family. Mothers mainly have a look at the fat content and they check if sugar is listed in the first place (if so, they experienced that these products often contain lots of sugar and thus are regarded as unhealthy). Relatively frequentlyexamined product categories are packed cold meat, cheese, yoghurt or drinks (like juice, cola). Interestingly, mothers barely have a look at the ingredients of products that are perceived as unhealthy anyway like pizza, convenience food, packed soups or sweets. Other mothers do not look at the nutrition labels at all because they do not want to be bothered by counting calories or they do not see the necessity to follow a strict nutrition plan or program. Rather controversial attitudes and behaviours exist regarding labelslike “organic”/”bio” and important keywords like “environmentally friendly”. It is rather a matter of a general attitudeand does not only concern children’s nutrition. Mothers either believe “bio” is something good and let themselves guide from those labels (buying nearly every “bio” product), or they think it only is a big swindle. Products with the DGE label are often not actively searched but mostly detected by chance or ex post.

Attitudes & behavior | Shopping & cooking with and for kids 1.1 On the one hand, cooking with kids is desired and considered to be important. On the other hand, it is rarely done – mainly for time reasons. Cooking with children Many mothers regret that they do not cook together with their children as often as they actually want to. They would like to do so several times a week but in reality this mainly happens just on weekends - for many not even on every weekend but only once or twice a month. In general, cooking with children is seen as important to get children to know different preparation processes, spices, names of vegetables and their natural appearance. Furthermore, they learn to appreciate the food as well as the time and labor it costs to prepare a dish or meal. Partly the kids do not like cooking, and partly the mothers do not always want the children to help because they simply don’t have the time. Children are not as experienced as their mothers and do need some more time, e.g. for peeling or cutting vegetables. Moreover, mothers say their childrendo not have enough concentration to assist for a longer time, but they really like doing legwork like peeling, cutting or stirring something. Beyond that, most of the kids like baking because they are allowed to splash, to knead, to pinch dough and to lick out the bowl.

Attitudes & behavior | Children’s view on (healthy) nutrition 1.1 Children attach great importance to tasty food. The health aspect is less relevant to them. Some food preferences seem to depend on the kids’ age. Likes/dislikes about food In contrast to the mothers, children asses food rather according to the tastethan according to health aspects. When it comes to children’s favorite dishes the most relevant aspect for them is “that it tastes good”. Analyzing different age groups in creating a menu for one week, interesting differences appear: While the younger children more often prefer pancakes (with apple sauce), soups and a wider variety of vegetables and side dishes, the older children more often prefer French fries, burgers, chicken nuggets, doner kebab and (Subway) sandwiches. Consistent preferences can be observed with regards to noodles/spaghetti, lasagna, pizza, schnitzel, hotdogs, sausages, chicken and fish sticks.

Attitudes & behavior | Children’s view on (healthy) nutrition 1.1 The favourite lunch menu of 8-10 year-old children: Kids widely refer to food provided/prepared by their mothers. A typical menu for 8-10 yrs. old children could include: My favourite lunch menu for 7 days: The younger children have a wider and varying menu. They select both healthy and unhealthy dishes. The younger children still refer to the menu made by their mothers and are hardly influenced by their peer group.

Qualitative Research & Sensory Product Test Trick the Kids / GrowUp Nov-Dec 2009