Trends in the choice of a balanced nutrition by consumers of the hospitality industry

Abstract

The article analyzes the impact of nutrition on human health and the impact of catering services on it. It is important for people's survival and their health to prepare a diet from a wide range of useful products, which, in addition to the three macronutrients, include enough vitamins and minerals. All of these major dietary components are commonly present in a mixture in natural and processed foods, and adequate intake of each component is extremely challenging, especially for prediction and control systems. Therefore, it is important for catering establishments to take this into account when forming rations and menus both at the current stage of society's development and in the future. The question of the impact of the increase in the cost of food products on the quality of nutrition, which often leads to a change in the amount and type of products that are bought and used in people's diet, has also been investigated. Another factor that attracts the attention of scientists is the effect of irregular eating on the thermic effect of food. The study was conducted on the regularity of meals and food preferences of Ukrainian youth, in particular among respondents of university age (18...23 years; 44,1 % – men, 55,9 % – women), almost 40 % of whom had fewer than three meals times a day, while the absolute majority neglect breakfast. It was established that 36,1 % of respondents spend time eating three times a day, 21,3 % four times a day, and 3,3 % five times a day.Despite modern recommendations to reduce the number of processed and ultra-processed food products, 26,2 % of respondents consume sausages several times a week, 14.7% - semi-finished dishes from meat-containing raw materials. As for the consumption of fish, which contains a set of micronutrients necessary for the normal functioning of the human body, 18,0 % of respondents follow the recommendation to consume two to three fish dishes per week, and 26,2 % do not consume fish dishes at all. Among the first dishes, 3,3 % of respondents eat soup every day, 50,8 % do it several times a week, and 18,0 % of respondents eat borscht several times a week. According to the results of the study, it was found that the food preferences of young people do not correspond to modern knowledge about the impact of insufficient consumption of fish, meat and other necessary micronutrients, and catering establishments are unable to form diets of healthy balanced nutrition for a number of reasons.

Keywords

• food
• consumer
• consumption
• healthy food
• human health
• balanced nutrition
• food quality
• catering establishments
• hospitality