Cox DN, Evan G
Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) Food Futures National Research Flagship and CSIRO Human Nutrition, PO Box 10041, Adelaide BC, SA 5000.
*Corresponding author: 
david.cox@csiro.au
Consumers’ perceived risks associated with novel food technologies have been recently documented. Ability to identify segments of populations that have greater or lesser neophobia in this respect so as to be able to characterise early adopters of innovative products would be useful. An established Food Neophobia Scale (FNS, Pliner & Hobden, 1992) has proven to be more suitable for assessing reactions to ethnic foods (and sensation seeking) but less suitable for assessing receptivity to foods produced by novel technologies. Therefore there is a need to develop a new psychometric tool that taps into Novel Food Technology Neophobia (NFTN).
In a three stage validation exercise, 81 statements (items) were reduced to 31 (n = 190) by factor analysis; subsequently the 31 items were reduced to 13 (n = 459). The new scale will be re-tested (n = 374) for face validity and tested for criterion validity using the willingness to consume foods produced by a range of novel food technologies as a criterion measure of behavioural intention. Subsequently, convergent validity between the NFTN and general neophobia; FNS (Pliner & Hobden, 1992) and Trust in Science (Bak, 2001) will be assessed.
Face validity, Stage 2: A principal component analysis of the 31 items revealed a KMO = 0.905 accounting for 55% of the variance was used to select the 13 questions for testing in Stage 3. Criterion validity: associated willingness to try foods produced by novel technologies will be reported. Convergent validity: NFTN associated (Pearson’s correlations, r) with trust in science; general neophobia and the NFS will be reported.
A validated scale could be used to quickly identify segments of populations willing to adopt food products produced using novel technologies.
Pliner, P., and Hobden, K. (1992) Appetite. 19, 105-120.
Bak, H.(2001). Social Sciences Quarterly, 82, 779-793.
