Conocimiento sobre riesgos y benefi cios del consumo de distintos tipos de carne en la Región de La Araucanía, Chile

Considering the relative changes in the consumption of white and red meats, the aim of this study is to distinguish different consumer segments in Temuco (Region of the Araucanía, Chile) on the basis of knowledge of the nutritional aspects related to the consumption of the main types of meats available in the country. Data is collected through a survey of 400 people. Using seven affi rmations on subjects that interviewees had to catalog as true or false, a score of 53.2% common knowledge was obtained, with greater awareness of the risks of red meat consumption than its benefi ts. Using hierarchical clustering, four segments were distinguished with no differences in the frequency of beef, pork or chicken consumption. The largest group (45.7%) presented a common knowledge score similar to the total sample. The second group (27.0%) with a score of 71.83% had the highest proportion of people from the higher socioeconomic strata and tertiary-level education. The third segment (14.8%) with a score of 39.84% had the highest proportion of consumers who received only elementary education. The smallest segment (12.5%) with a score of 26.68% contained few consumers with university studies and the greatest proportion belonging to the lower-middle and low socioeconomic strata and the Mapuche ethnic group. Nutritional knowledge with respect to different types of meat is related to educational level and, secondarily, to the consumer’s socioeconomic and ethnic group; however, it has not yet affected the frequency of consumption of different types of meat.