Do children like fish? Perceptive and behavioral factors related to children’s acceptance of fish school formulations

The nutritional benefits of including fish in an individual’s diet have become increasingly clear. Despite this, in a recent survey conducted among Italian children, 60% of them were found to eat less than 2 servings of fish per week, which is the recommended intake for both children and adults. One of the most important reason why children do not eat fish is likely to be that fish is not part of a child’s regular diet during the development of his/her food preferences. Many prejudices also contribute to low fish liking, including an aversion to the taste, smell and texture of fish, as well as the fear of ingesting bones. Furthermore, behavioral factors such as familial preference and neophobia shape the development of fish acceptance and liking. This study was aimed to investigate children’ acceptance of, and preferences for, three different trout formulations served at school lunch. Liking and preference were studied in relation to age, gender and neophobic traits. Parental neophobia, fish-eating habits and frequency of seafood consumption in family life conditions were also investigated. One hundred and four children (48 girls and 56 boys aged 7-11 years) were recruited. The results indicated that liking was strongly dependent on cooking methods, and the proper choice of recipes is also likely able to minimize neophobic attitudes. Parental food neophobia was related to child neophobic behavior. Child hedonic responses were correlated to family fish liking, fish preparation and barriers to seafood consumption. Nutritionists, dieticians and product developers should consider the sensory aspects of fish formulation as well as parental attitude to promote more sustainable and appealing refectory meals in order to increase acceptability and consumption at school and at home.