Consumer acceptance of a locally produced nutritive food bar in Lao PDR

Food insecurity and micronutrient deficiency remain pressing global development challenges, particularly for women and children in poor and remote communities in low- and middle-income countries. Global interest has grown in locally produced ready-to-eat nutritive foods to help combat different forms of malnutrition. The aim of this paper was to understand the acceptability of a novel and locally produced nutritive food bar for rural consumers at risk of malnutrition in Lao PDR.

This multidisciplinary cross-sectional acceptability study assessed the organoleptic qualities of five different nutritive food bar formulations; willingness to use ready-to-use foods; and nutrition knowledge, attitudes, and behaviours related to ready-to-use foods. The study, implemented in June 2023, used structured questionnaires administered by trained interviewers to elicit data from 62 subject pairs of children and their caregivers from four rural communities in Vientiane Province. The data were analysed using non-inferential descriptive statistical analysis (univariate and bivariate analysis).

All five bar formulations received organoleptic ratings from 3.7 to 4.1 (adults) and 3.7 to 4.0 (children) on a 1-to-5 scale (5 being "very good"). 93.6% caregivers would buy their preferred bar in a shop and 91.9% would have their child buy it at school. Participants' average willingness-to-pay for their preferred bar was LAK 2580.64 (US$ 0.14) per bar, which was less than the production cost (LAK 4300). 95.2% of caregivers had knowledge on micronutrients and 75.8% on food fortification. At least weekly consumption of ready-to-use foods in participants' households was 93.5% for salty snacks, 95.2% for sweets, and 98.4% for drinks. Willingness-to-pay appeared to be linked to lower age, higher household-level ready-to-use food spending, social and mass media use for nutrition information, and previous experiences with nutritive food bars for children.

We conclude that a locally produced nutritive food bar has potential to improve nutrition intake among vulnerable populations at risk of malnutrition, such as women in childbearing age or school-aged children. Since rural development may raise demand for convenient ready-to-use foods, a nutritive food bar could provide a healthier alternative for households with high existing consumption of salty snacks and sweets, aided by market-based instruments and social/mass media outreach.