Assessing fruit perception using focus groups

Today, only a minority of the world's population consumes the recommended daily amount of fruits and vegetables. Even though fruit growing has a long tradition in the Western Balkan countries, fruit consumption should be encouraged as it is a basic element of a healthy diet. During the FOCUS Balkans project, fruit perception and consumption was studied with a qualitative and quantitative approach. This chapter describes the application of focus group discussions as a widely employable method in food consumer science. Required preparation measures and guidelines for focus group discussions are explained in detail. Furthermore, practical aspects about the implementation of this method as well as advice on the selection of participants are presented on behalf of a concrete example. For instance, it seems that participants from the Western Balkans generally prefer home-grown fruits or fruits bought on green markets, and fruit safety was an issue frequently raised. Focus group discussions hence are a valuable tool in exploring the consumption of a specific product, especially if combined with a quantitative survey for investigating differences between countries or between people of different age groups.