Development and reproducibility of a questionnaire to assess drivers and barriers to consuming plant-based alternatives to dairy foods

As a result of the greater search for alternative versions to animal-based products, food industries have been innovating and increasing the supply of plant-based alternatives to milk and dairy products (PBAMD). However, studies to evaluate why people consume plant-based products to replace cow's milk and dairy are lacking. This study aims to develop a questionnaire to assess consumers’ attitudes towards and barriers and drivers to consuming sustainable food and plant-based analogues to dairy products and translate it into Danish and Brazilian Portuguese. This experimental study was performed in two main steps: (i) development of the instrument: problem formulation, literature search, development of the questions, internal review, translation and back translation, regional adaptations; (ii) reproducibility test: Test-retest study and statistical analysis. The instruments tested in Denmark and Brazil regarding reproducibility using the test-retest. For variables on a continuous scale, where respondents answered with a visual analogue scale (VAS) (from 0 to 100), the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) was used, and for ordinal variables, test-retest agreement was assessed using a weighted kappa coefficient. The developed questionnaire consisted of 27 questions covering socio-demographics, dietary patterns, adoption of sustainable eating habits, consumption of plant-based substitutes for cow's milk and its derivatives, and acceptance. The original questionnaire (English) was successfully translated into Danish and Brazilian Portuguese. The reproducibility results showed 68/86 and 65/86 with good agreement in Denmark and Brazil, respectively. This study developed a questionnaire to assess drivers and barriers to consuming plant-based alternatives to milk and dairy, translated and adapted to different social-cultural contexts. • Studies to evaluate why people consume plant-based products to replace cow's milk and dairy are lacking. • Questionnaires for assessing consumers’ attitudes and perceptions should consider the complexity of food choices • The SHEAF Questionnaire assesses drivers and barriers to consuming plant-based alternatives to milk and dairy. • The reproducibility results of the SHEAF Questionnaire showed 68/86 and 65/86 with good agreement in Denmark and Brazil, respectively.