RESEARCH ON THE IMPACT OF CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR IN TIMIȘ COUNTY, ROMANIA, REGARDING THE CONSUMPTION OF BAKERY PRODUCTS AND THE POSSIBILITY OF DIVERSIFYING BY REPLACING WHEAT FLOUR WITH CHICKPEA FLOUR

The current trends of consumers are towards the consumption of nutritionally valuable foods with a positive impact on health, and the present work is integrated into the set of current concerns in scientific research on a domestic and international level. The aim of the work is the diversification of bakery products with functional potential based on chickpeas and fibers. For this, it was carried out a study on the impact of consumer behaviour regarding the consumption of bakery products, the knowledge of the benefits of chickpeas, the openness of consumers to the consumption of foods based on chickpeas and fibers in order to put on the market bakery products with functional potential based on chickpeas and fibers. To carry out the study, two questionnaires were applied to a number of 1,000 respondents. The sample size for each category is 500 people for each questionnaire, in total 1,000 questionnaires were applied. The obtained results were described for each sample using descriptive univariate analysis and with the help of the EXCEL program, having the database available, frequency tables containing the obtained results were generated. The questionnaires were applied between March and May 2024, in Timiş county, Romania. As a result of the study, it was found that consumers are increasingly oriented towards consuming products that offer them benefits from a nutritional point of view, and the consumption of chickpea-based bakery products represent an alternative for a healthy diet.