A review of instruments developed to measure food neophobia
Open accessAbstract
BACKGROUND: Food choices are influenced by an individual's attitude towards foods. Food neophobia may be associated with less variety of diets, inadequate nutrient intake and high product failure rate for new food products entering the market. To quantify the extent of these challenges, instruments to measure the food neophobia in different target groups are needed. Several such instruments with significantly different measurement outcomes and procedures have been developed. This review provides an overview and discusses strengths and weaknesses of these instruments. OBJECTIVE: We evaluate strengths and weaknesses of previously developed instruments to measure neophobia and willingness to try unfamiliar foods. DESIGN: Literature was searched through the databases Web of Science and Google Scholar. We identified 255 studies concerning neophobia and willingness to try unfamiliar foods. Of these, 13 studies encompassing 13 instruments to measure neophobia and willingness to try unfamiliar foods were included in the review. Results are summarized and evaluated with a narrative approach. RESULTS: In the 13 instruments to assess neophobia and willingness to try unfamiliar foods, 113 to 16.644 subjects aged 2-65 years were involved, scales with 3-7 response categories were used and behavioral validation tests were included in 6 studies. CONCLUSIONS: Several instruments to measure neophobia and willingness to try unfamiliar foods exist. We recommend selecting one or more among the 13 instruments reviewed in this paper to assess relevant aspects of neophobia.
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Neophobia is a complex and multifaceted concept and different measures of neophobia may capture different aspects of neophobia.
“Neophobia is a complex and multifaceted concept and different measures of neophobia may capture different aspects of neophobia (Damsbo-Svendsen, 2017).”
From Children overcoming picky eating (COPE) - A cluster randomised controlled trial. (2020) · cites this paper as Damsbo-Svendsen, 2017
Food neophobia was measured using the Food Situations Questionnaire (FSQ), which has been validated for use with 7-12-year-olds and has good internal consistency.
“The measure has been validated for use with 7-12-year-olds and has good internal consistency (Damsbo-Svendsen et al., 2017)”
From Children overcoming picky eating (COPE) - A cluster randomised controlled trial. (2020) · cites this paper as Damsbo-Svendsen et al., 2017
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- Authors
- Damsbo-Svendsen, M., Frøst, M. B., & Olsen, A.
- Affiliations
- University of Copenhagen (DK)
- Corresponding author
- Olsen, Annemarie
- Venue
- Appetite
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2017-06
- Volume
- 113
- Pages
- 358-367
- ISSN
- 0195-6663 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2593248723
- Cited by
- 145
- References
- 56
- Citations by year
- 2026: 14 · 2025: 13 · 2024: 18 · 2023: 17 · 2022: 19 · 2021: 19 · 2020: 21 · 2019: 12 · 2018: 11 · 2017: 1
- FWCI
- 1.33
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Appetite (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Research at the University of Copenhagen (University of Copenhagen) (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- Funders
- Nordea-fonden
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Food Science › Sensory Analysis and Statistical Methods
- Health Sciences › Nursing › Nutrition and Dietetics › Nutrition, Health and Food Behavior
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Consumer Attitudes and Food Labeling
- Keywords
- food neophobia, measurement instruments, psychometric validation, behavioral validation, food attitudes, dietary diversity, new food products
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Aged, Child, Child, Preschool, Diet, Female, Food Preferences, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Phobic Disorders, Surveys and Questionnaires, Recognition, Psychology, Young Adult
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