How Brazilian Schoolchildren Identify, Classify, and Label Foods and Beverages—A Card Sorting Methodology

Luciana Jeremias Pereira, Clarice Perucchi Lopes, Mayara Lopes Martins, Patrícia de Fragas Hinnig, Patricia Faria Di Pietro, Pedro Henrique de Moura Araujo, Dalton Francisco de Andrade, Maria Alice Altenburg De Assis and Francilene Gracieli Kunradi Vieira ()
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Luciana Jeremias Pereira: Post-Graduation Program in Nutrition, Health Sciences Center, Federal University of Santa Catarina, Florianópolis 88040-900, Brazil
Clarice Perucchi Lopes: Post-Graduation Program in Nutrition, Health Sciences Center, Federal University of Santa Catarina, Florianópolis 88040-900, Brazil
Mayara Lopes Martins: Doctoral School of Nutrition and Food Sciences, Institute of Nutrition, University of Debrecen, H-4002 Debrecen, Hungary
Patrícia de Fragas Hinnig: Post-Graduation Program in Nutrition, Health Sciences Center, Federal University of Santa Catarina, Florianópolis 88040-900, Brazil
Patricia Faria Di Pietro: Post-Graduation Program in Nutrition, Health Sciences Center, Federal University of Santa Catarina, Florianópolis 88040-900, Brazil
Pedro Henrique de Moura Araujo: Informatics and Statistics Department, Technological Center, Federal University of Santa Catarina, Florianópolis 88040-900, Brazil
Dalton Francisco de Andrade: Informatics and Statistics Department, Technological Center, Federal University of Santa Catarina, Florianópolis 88040-900, Brazil
Maria Alice Altenburg De Assis: Post-Graduation Program in Nutrition, Health Sciences Center, Federal University of Santa Catarina, Florianópolis 88040-900, Brazil
Francilene Gracieli Kunradi Vieira: Post-Graduation Program in Nutrition, Health Sciences Center, Federal University of Santa Catarina, Florianópolis 88040-900, Brazil

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 2, 1-13

Abstract: This study examined how Brazilian schoolchildren identified, classified, and labeled foods and beverages. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 133 schoolchildren aged 7 to 10 years old from a public school located in southern Brazil in 2015. A set of cards with pictures of 32 food and beverage items from the web-based Food Intake and Physical Activity of Schoolchildren tool (Web-CAAFE) were used. Participants identified each item, formed groups for them based on similarity, and assigned labels for those groups. Student’s t -tests and analysis of variance (ANOVA) tests were used to verify the mean difference between the groups of items. K-means cluster analysis was applied to identify similar clusters. Schoolchildren made an average of 9.1 piles of foods and beverages that they thought were similar (±2.4) with 3.0 cards (±1.8) each. Five groups were identified: meats, snacks and pasta, sweets, milk and dairy products, and fruits and vegetables. The most frequently used nomenclature for labeling groups was taxonomic-professional (47.4%), followed by the specific food item name (16.4%), do not know/not sure (13.3%), and evaluative (health perception) (8.8%). The taxonomic-professional category could be applied to promote improvements in the identification process of food and beverage items by children in self-reported computerized dietary questionnaires.

Keywords: food categorization; schoolchildren; online questionnaire; cluster analysis; semi-structured interviews (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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