Dissertação de Mestrado

The world's population is growing and that. As a result, the world's resources are becoming increasingly scarce. Over the years, the food industry has become more competitive, while consumers have become more concerned about what they eat, especially the nutritional and health benefits of the food they eat. The consumption of algae has proven to be an alternative to the environmental saturation resulting from the production of more traditional foods, and therefore the promotion of the consumption of algae is of great importance, since it tends to be a healthy alternative that benefits both human beings and the planet's ecosystem, promoting the sustainability of the planet. This study attempts to validate an alternative way of consuming seaweed: seaweed snacks. In order to explore understand the Portuguese consumer acceptability of seaweed-based snacks, will be evaluate the impact of the independent variables: familiarity, knowledge of seaweed, neophobia and product certification and labelling, on the independent variable will be assessed. It was observed that the respondents claimed not to have sufficient knowledge about seaweed, despite having some previous experience with it: seeing and eating seaweed-based food. The product that stood out the most was the seaweed-based snack, confirming that it could be a good bet for the market to overcome the barriers inherent in seaweed consumption. Labelling is also an aid in choosing healthier food products and can also be very useful in spreading nutritional and health information about algae-based foods.