Home Meal Replacement Use and Eating Habits of Adults in One-Person Households / 대한지역사회영양학회지

OBJECTIVES: The rise of one-person households may have consequences for food consumption patterns, and eating habits. This study investigated the home meal replacement (HMR) use and eating habits among adults in their 20s-30s living in one-person households.METHODS: A total of 247 adults aged 26–39 years participated in this study. The subjects were divided into three group according to the household type; one-person households (n=80), two-person households (n=49), and multi-family (three and more members) households (n=118). Their use of HMRs (classified as ready-to-eat, ready-to-cook, and fresh convenience foods) and their eating habits were all compared.RESULTS: The mean age of the subjects was 30.5 years, 47.8% were male, and there was no significant difference in age, gender, occupation, and monthly income according to the type of household. The intake frequency of total HMR and ready-to-eat foods was significantly higher in one-person households among the three groups. People in one-person households consumed more HMRs alone, and spent more money to buy HMRs. Undesirable dietary habit scores like unbalanced eating (p<0.05) and eating salty foods (p<0.05) were significantly higher in the one-person households. Among the total subjects, the unbalanced eating scores showed a significant positive correlation with the intake frequency of ready-toeat foods, while the unbalanced eating scores showed negative correlation with the preference of fresh convenience foods. The scores for eating salty foods showed a significant positive correlation with the intake frequency and preference of ready-to-eat foods and ready-to-cook foods, while there was negative correlation with the intake frequency and preference of fresh convenience foods.CONCLUSIONS: Adults in their 20s–30s in one-person households consumed more ready-to-eat foods than those in multi-family households. In addition, people with one-person households had more unbalanced diets and ate more salty foods, and these undesirable eating habits showed a significant positive correlation with the use of ready-to-eat or ready-to-cook foods. These results should be addressed for producing healthier ready-to-eat/ready-to-cook foods and implementing nutrition education for making healthy food choices of one-person households, which are steadily increasing.

Customers' Purchase Patterns and Expectation-Confirmation toward Home Meal Replacement Products

This study examined the customers' perception on Home Meal Replacement (HMR) products. Specifically, there were three research objectives: 1. to identify the customers' HMR purchase patterns and preference of HMR product development; 2. to identify the attributes of the HMR products that the customers perceive; and 3. to examine the customers' level of expectation-confirmation toward HMR product attributes according to the demographic characteristics. This study employed a self-administered survey that was distributed online from November 21~24, 2017. The sample of the study was the customers who had purchased HMR products in the six months prior to taking the survey. A total of 553 respondents completed the survey, which was used for data analysis. The results revealed the customers' HMR purchase patterns. The major HMR product type of purchase was ready to heat (52.6%), while the main reason for purchasing HMR products was convenience (83.2%). For the differences in the level of expectation-confirmation toward HMR products in accordance with the demographic characteristics of customers, the results indicated that there was a difference in the expectation-confirmation level according to age, whereas the respondents aged 29 and under showed a significantly higher level of time-saving for the preparation and ease of cooking (P < 0.05) than the other age groups. In addition, there was a significant difference in the expectation-confirmation level for saving meal preparation time (P < 0.05) and convenience (P < 0.01) among the customer's occupation. These findings can provide the basis for a strategy for developing HMR products reflecting the rapidly changing customers' needs. HMR products should be developed according to the specific target market, as the study indicated that the respective customer segmentation resulted in a difference in their expectation toward HMR products.

Analysis of Chinese and Japanese consumers' preference for Korean home meal replacement product package design using conjoint analysis / 한국영양학회지

PURPOSE: The study examined the Chinese and Japanese consumers' preference for Korean home meal replacement (HMR) product package designs using conjoint analysis. METHODS: The questionnaire survey was completed by 270 consumers living in Beijing, China and Osaka, Japan, over the age of 20 years old, who had previously purchased or consumed a Korean HMR. Based on the attributes and levels within each attribute related to the Korean HMR product package design, 54 profiles were constructed. Of the 54 profiles, 11 combinations were selected using an orthogonal design, and the participants were asked to rank the 11 combinations in order of preference from top to bottom. RESULTS: The relative importance of the Korean HMR product package design attributes were analyzed. Chinese consumers regarded illustration, ingestion form, concept, and brand name, in that order, to be most important. In the case of Japanese consumers, illustration, concept, ingestion form, and brand name, in that order, were most important. For the illustration attributes, in order of importance, Chinese consumers preferred raw materials, characters, and celebrities, and Japanese consumers preferred characters, raw materials, and celebrities. For the concept attributes, Chinese consumers favored, witty, traditional Korean, and modern concepts, whereas Japanese consumers favored witty, modern, and then traditional Korean concepts. For the ingestion form attributes, both Chinese and Japanese consumers preferred Ready To Eat (RTE), followed by Ready To Heat (RTH), and then Ready To Cook (RTC). For the brand name attributes, both Chinese and Japanese consumers preferred the localized brand name over the Korean brand name. CONCLUSION: Differences in the relative importance of Korean HMR product package design attributes were observed among Chinese and Japanese consumers, and there were differences in preference according to the levels within each attribute. These results are expected to provide useful basic data to assist in the future development of differentiated HMR package designs and marketing strategies to meet consumer needs in the market for Korean HMR in China and Japan.

Using Home Meal Replacements (HMRs) in Diabetes Care / 임상당뇨병

Diabetes mellitus is a major health problem in Korea. Although diet is an essential part of diabetes care, many diabetic patients have considerable difficulties with dietary therapy. Preparing meals is burdensome and is one of the main barriers to diet control, especially for those patients who have busy schedules or who have physical difficulties. People with diabetes should consider using HMR (Home Meal Replacement) products to address difficulties in preparing meals. HMRs are purchased meals eaten at home as is or after a brief cooking process. Korean HMR products are categorized as 'ready to eat', 'ready to heat', and 'ready to end-cook' according to the degree of cooking required. The consumption of HMR products is increasing due to the increase in single people living alone, the increasing number of women working outside the home, the aging of the population, and increasing income levels. HMR products could help diabetic patients eat regular meals and minimize barriers to meal preparation. When using HMR products, people with diabetes can have problems with imbalanced nutrition, inconsistent carbohydrate intake, and excess salt intake. When introducing HMR products to people with diabetes, dietitians should provide guidelines for eating a balanced diet and teach patients how to read nutrition facts label and reduce salt intake.

The Structural Correlation between Consumer's Attitudes and Intention of Repurchase of Home Meal Replacement (HMR) according to the Product Categories / 대한지역사회영양학회지

The purposes of this study were to analyze the consumer inclination to convenience towards HMR in order to verify the structural correlation of the actual state of consumption, and to analyze consequently, the direct or indirect effects among 'frequency of using,' 'preference', 'satisfaction', and 'intention to repurchase'. The subjects were adults in their twenties or older who had used HMRs and lived in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province in Korea. Random sampling of 550 subjects, who were distributed a questionnaire from March 12 to 30, 2005. A total of 451 questionnaires were returned (the return rates were 82%). The main results of this study were as follows : Regarding the types of HMR, 'Ready to eat' had higher preference (3.31), satisfaction (3.33) and 'intention to purchase it again' (3.38) than those of 'Ready to heat' and 'Ready to end-cook.' Consumer inclination to convenience towards HMR was analyzed in order to verify the structural correlation of the actual state of consumption, and consequently, the direct or indirect effects among 'frequency of using,' 'preference', 'satisfaction', and 'intention to repurchase' were analyzed. The gross effect of 'frequency of using' on 'intention to repurchase' was 0.435, the gross effect of preference on 'intention to purchase it again' was 0.659, and the gross effect of satisfaction on 'intention to purchase it again' was 0.772 for 'Ready to eat.' The gross effect of 'frequency of using' on 'intention to repurchase' was 0.448, the gross effect of preference on 'intention to repurchase' was 0.556, and the gross effect of satisfaction on 'intention to repurchase' was 0.654 for 'Ready to heat.' The gross effect of 'frequency of using' on 'intention to repurchase' was 0.432, the gross effect of preference on 'intention to repurchase' was 0.494, and the gross effect of satisfaction on 'intention to repurchase' was 0.608 for 'Ready to end-cook.' To summerize the above results, there was a difference of the structural correlation among component concepts of the actual state of consuming according to the criteria of HMR. Thus, it implied that differentiated sales strategies were needed according to the criteria of HMR.

Conceptualizing and Prospecting for Home Meal Replacement (HMR) in Korea by Delphi Technique

The purposes of this study were to conceptualize the Home Meal Replacement (HMR) in Korea and to gather professionals' opinions of prospect and task for HMR industry in Korea. A total of 67 experts participated in a three round survey by Delphi technique, which was used to integrate and share the each expert's professional idea. According to the result, HMR was translated into 'Gajeongsiksa daeyongsik' in Korean and given definition to 'a meal taken directly or through brief cooking process at home by purchasing ready to eat or ready to end-cook type of food'. As the result of categorizing HMR products of Korean food, 'I. Ready to eat' such as side dishes, kimchi, salad, sandwich, kimbab, and so on and 'II. Ready to heat' such as rice, porridge, retort food (soup, broth, curry, spaghetti, etc.), frozen pizza, grilled food, jabchae, instant soup, and so on were construed in a limited sense of the HMR. In addition, 'III. Ready to end-cook' such as frozen dumpling, frozen pork cutlet, seasoned meat, powder-type soup, and so on as well as these two kinds were interpreted in a broad sense of the HMR. In the prospect of HMR industry in Korea, the Korean HMR industry would develop continuously accompanied by increasing of consumers using HMR products. Introduction and generalization of HMRs would serve the convenience for meal preparation and then influence the change of home meal pattern. Nevertheless, it was concerned about that using HMRs might have limitation on solving the problems of dietary life including irregular meal, skipping a meal, and so on and influence the nutrition imbalance. For the development of HMRs, developing various menu and the packaging materials for HMR products, constructing the thorough sanitary management, and strengthening R & D for the HMR of Korean food were the future tasks in Korean HMR industry.