Assessment of satisfaction with the quality and safety of food products in the population of Russian megacities

Introduction. People’s satisfaction with food safety and quality is an important component of overall satisfaction with a sanitary-epidemiological situation on a given territory. It is based on consumer criteria of quality and safety, which do not have the same significance. The aim of this study was to assess satisfaction with food quality and safety in population in Russian megacities determined relying on consumer criteria. Materials and methods. The study involved accomplishing a formalized survey, which was conducted in Novosibirsk and Perm among people aged 18 years and older (river sampling, quotas per age, sex and place of residence). Data were collected over the period between October 6, 2024 and November 6, 2024. A specifically designed survey tool was used in the process, which enabled calculating an integral index of satisfaction for each respondent. Results. Several key criteria were named by consumers to detect a product quality for all product groups such as ‘freshness; expiration date has not been reached’ (this criterion is among top five for all product groups suggested for evaluation); ‘pleasant taste’; ‘conforms to State Standards (GOST), quality standards’. Safety criteria determined by consumers included ‘storage under proper conditions’; ‘absence of any strange taste’; ‘expiration date has not been reached’. Significance of these criteria varied depending on consumers’ sex, age, family situation and economic status. The lowest level of consumer satisfaction with product quality, according to the integral index estimation, was identified for soft drinks (21.4 % of consumers were unsatisfied, the index value was ≤0.4) and vegetables (19.7%); the lowest level of satisfaction with food safety was identified for eggs (27.9% of consumers unsatisfied, the index value was ≤0.4), bread and bakery products (26.6%), poultry (23.9%), meat and meat products (23.8%), milk and milk products (22.6%). Satisfaction with food safety is a) lower than satisfaction with quality, b) is different in various socio-demographic groups. Limitations. The research object was represented by people who live in cities with their population exceeding 1 million; a sample was created by using non-random techniques and this resulted in its deviation from a total population per several social and demographic parameters (this deviation was partially compensated for by using the weighting procedure). Conclusion. It is important to consider consumers’ satisfaction with food quality and safety when developing activities aimed at communications with executive regional and local authorities in RF regions as well as with population as regards the existing sanitary-epidemiological situation. Various managerial actions have been recommended depending on how people are distributed per categories of satisfaction, which were created using the results obtained by estimations based on the integral index.