CONSUMER PURSHASE MOTIVE FOR EGGS & EGG AS A FUNCTIONAL FOOD

By: Dr. Adebayo Odunowo (B.Sc., MBA, D.Sc.)

Introduction
Eggs are an important constituent of consumers breakfast and are usually eaten either
in fried, stewed or boiled form with yam, bread, pap and cereal like cornflakes; in
addition, some consumers consume eggs with fried or boiled plantain, fried yam, rice,
noodles and potato, and some use egg in preparing home dishes like moi moi (bean
pudding), akara (bean cake), fried rice, vegetable soup, and salad or in preparing
snacks like scotch egg, sandwich, egg roll among other snacks. While there are no
statistics to determine the proportion of Nigerian consumers that consume eggs either in
the morning, afternoon, evening or as snacks, Willis (2005) revealed that majority (39%)
of the eggs consumers purchased in the United States of America (USA) are usually
consumed at breakfast with 22% consumed at lunch, 13% at teatime, 25% at dinner
and 2% as snacks. Irrespective of when egg is consumed,
there are usually some motives that make consumers want
to consume eggs.

Consumers Purchase Motives

Consumers have different motives for purchasing and consuming different food
products, these motives apart from guiding them during their purchase decision making,
also influences this purchase decision making process based on the consumers
demographic, psychographic and normative characteristics. Marketing literatures are
awash with various motives that influence consumers to purchase and consume a
particular food item; however, these motives are usually linked to meeting the needs of

the consumer. While a school of thought has classified consumers need into two
namely biogenic (biological) and psychogenic (emotional) needs, another school of
thought classified consumers need into three which are functional, experiential and
symbolic needs. Notwithstanding these classification of consumers needs, it has been
observed that consumers utility needs are motivated by one or a combination of
motives which are listed as functional motives meeting the consumers daily nutrient
requirement, aesthetic-emotional motives that meets the consumers experiential
needs, social motives meeting the consumers status in the society, situational
motives meeting the consumers desire to attain certain goals such as preparation for
sporting activities or recuperating from illness, and curiosity motives that encourage
new consumers to try consuming eggs.

Thus making good food choice goes beyond meeting the consumer basic functional
nutrition as revealed by study conducted by Gilbert (2000) which show that 70%, 64%
and 60% of consumers purchase and consume food that will make them look physically
better, improve their appearance and the attractiveness of the appearance respectively;
thus consuming food has emotional, physical and cosmetic benefit for todays
consumer.

Irrespective of consumers motives for consuming a particular food, their food choice is
a reflection of their lifestyle and personality which usually goes through a cultural,
social, cognitive and physiological processes that influence their choice of food;
however, the desire to meet consumers functional need is not enough as consumers
motive for food preference cut across sensory properties, price, availability, health

benefits, product naturalness and consumers mood at the time of purchase. An

understanding of these motives by Poultry Association of Nigeria and how they
influence consumers purchase decision will help in formulating an appropriate
marketing strategy that would not only increase consumers involvement but preference
for eggs.

Consumers Need for Animal Protein

Protein is one of the major nutrients needed by consumers to attain a healthy lifestyle,
apart from being the building blocks of consumers body; they are indispensable for
normal growth and form the foundation of many biochemical activities that goes on in
the consumers body. Protein could be sourced from either plant or animal otherwise
known as livestock as they as reared primarily to provide protein for consumers since
protein is known to be their most important constituent, moreover their protein
constituents is of high biological value that is ideal for meeting the functional nutrition
need of consumers. Meat, milk, fish, eggs, poultry meat are common foods that
consumers purchase and consume to meet their need for protein, however selecting
any of these animal protein source involves a complex interaction of the influence of
sensory negotiation, socio-economic consideration, perceived risk associated with the
consumption of such products, nutritional benefits, social relationship and food quality,
all of which reflect the consumers psychographic characteristics. Of these food items of
animal origin, egg is being eaten more than others and served in a variety of ways all
over the world; moreover it is a cheap source of protein and an important staple food
but contrary in Nigeria, egg is not considered an important staple food and is ranked as
the third most preferred and consumed food of animal origin by consumers coming after

beef and fish (Aromolaran and Akintunde, 1998; Muhammad-Lawal and Balogun, 2007;
Iyangbe and Orewa, 2009); however, in arriving at this conclusion, Nigerian researchers
overlooked consumers presumption about the functional role egg plays vis--vis the
risk associated with egg consumption and how this risk influences their purchase
behaviour.

Egg as Food
Meeting consumers need for protein is the fundamental goal of Nigerian poultry
farmers, however they along with Poultry Association of Nigeria have to acquire a better
understanding of the nutritional and non-nutritional role egg plays if they must
adequately meet consumers biogenic (biological) and psychogenic (emotional) needs
for protein; egg as natures original functional food contain attributes that prevent or
solve consumers specific nutritional needs which acts as motivator that encourage
consumers to focus on the innate benefits when purchasing product.

Functional Food Concept

In addition to satisfying consumers hunger needs and providing essential nutrients for
consumers, food is fast becoming a veritable vehicle to transport consumers along the
path to achieve best possible health and mental wellbeing along with preventing
nutrition related ailments and health related diseases. While several researchers have
tried to place food within this new consumption behaviour movement that started in the
early nineties; never in the history of consumer behavior vis--vis food choice and
consumption has health benefit arising from food consumption become a major factor in
consumers purchase decision making process, which has led to the development of the

functional food concept that has become one of the most popular concept in the
consumer food market especially in Europe, Canada and Japan where more and more
consumers are becoming more familiar with the concept. Nigerian consumers are not
too familiar with the functional food concept hence it is difficult to determine if this
concept plays any role in influencing their decision making process in relation to food
choice.

As at today, there is no distinct definition of functional food as different and several

definitions have been put forward by many nutritionist and organizations, nevertheless,
based on experts opinion functional food can be clarified and distinguished around four
concepts namely:-

The nature of the food.

Health benefits.

Level of function.

Consumers consumption pattern.

In support of the above concepts, an earlier study by Roberfroid (2000) had stated that
for food to qualify as a functional food, such food must have the following features:-

Must be a conventional food this is consumed on a regular basis in normal

quantities.

Must be consumed as part of a standard diet.

Must be natural and must not contain any synthetic or/and chemical substances.

In addition to its nutritional benefits, must provide health and physiological

benefits that reduces the risk of certain chronic diseases and this must be
scientifically substantiated.

From the foregoing, it is evident that functional food must provide benefits that go
beyond meeting consumers functional nutrition needs as such benefit could help in
preventing cancer, nutritional disorder like obesity, cardiovascular and its related
ailments like stroke and hypertension, and other conditions that predispose consumers
to cholesterol related ailment. But does egg qualify as a functional food? Answers to this
question will be provided in the next section.

Is Egg a Functional Food?

In collaborating the description of egg as natures original functional food due to its high
quality protein and other nutrients, Applegate (2000) described egg as the powerhouse
of nutrition as a result of its high nutrient density content, many essential vitamins and
minerals that are present in substantial quantity (as shown in Table 1 and 2), amino
acids, other nutrients such as choline, and carotenoids such as lutein and zeaxanthin.
All these nutrients apart from meeting the consumers functional nutrition needs play
important role in their physiological and health wellbeing thus laying a strong foundation
for the health of the consumers.

Table 1: Nutrient Content of One Large Egg

Nutrient
Energy
Protein
Carbohydrate
Total Fat

Whole Egg
72cal
6.30gr
0.36gr
4.80gr

Monounsaturated Fat
Polyunsaturated Fat
Saturated Fat
Trans Fat
Cholesterol
Choline
Vitamin A
Vitamin D
Vitamin E
Riboflavin
Folic acid
Vitamin B12
Vitamin B6
Vitamin B1
Magnesium
Selenium
Phosphorous
Iron
Zinc
Calcium
Sodium
Potassium

1.80gr
1.00gr
1.60gr
0.02gr
186mg
126mg
270iu
41iu
0.50mg
0.20mg
24mcg
0.45mcg
0.09mg
0.02mg
6mg
15.40mcg
99mg
0.88mg
0.65mg
28mg
71mg
69mg

Source: Egg Nutrition Centre (2010)

Table 2: Recommended Daily Allowance of Major Nutrients from Two Large Eggs
Nutrient
Protein
Energy
Riboflavin
Folic acid
Vitamin B12
Vitamin K
Vitamin D
Vitamin A
Vitamin E
Selenium
Phosphorous
Iron
Zinc
Source: Applegate (2000)

% Daily value
20%
6%
30%
12%
16%
62%
12%
12%
6%
34%
16%
8%
8%

While choline has been linked to fetal memory and the early development of consumers
brain thus enhancing their cognitive function and mental performance, the carotenoids
(lutein and zeaxanthin) help in lowering the risk of developing cataracts and in
preventing the occurrence of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) which is the
principal cause of irreversible blindness among consumers especially amongst elderly
consumers, this is in addition to the role lutein plays in reducing the risks of early
atherosclerosis. Eggs are important source of nutraceuticals and pharmaceuticals that
offer the consumers simplicity, wholesomeness, purity and balance that improve their
overall wellness; furthermore its very low level of carbohydrate, fat and energy as
shown in Table 1 justify its consumption by consumers who are on controlled diet thus
to enhancing weight loss.

Apart from the fact that eggs are one of the only foods that contain naturally occurring
vitamin D, a recent study has discovered that women who consumed at least 8 eggs per
week lowered their risk of breast cancer by 44%. Because of its high sulphur content
and wide array of vitamins and minerals, eggs promote healthy hair and nails thus
preventing breakage.

Despite the numerous health benefits offered by egg, most consumers are unaware of
these benefit hence they tend to compare egg on the same pedestal with other protein
source like meat, milk, fish, chicken and legumes, In a 1998 survey conducted in the
U.S. by International Food Information Council, 74% of the respondents did not consider
egg as a functional food as they could not link it to any health benefit; however with
consumers becoming more aware of the nutritional and health benefits of consuming

eggs coupled with the improvement of consumers eating habit as a result of their
willingness to adopt health oriented change in their eating habit, the consumption of
eggs is bound to be on the increasing. In view of the health and nutritional benefits of
egg discussed in this section, egg contains all the unique features and fall within the
functional food definition concepts.

Based on the above, eggs perfectly match the requirements of

a functional food, hence it is a functional food and the most
appropriate marketing strategy by poultry farmers should be
based on this fact and the most important consumption
motives and attributes discussed earlier.

Consumer Perceived Risk towards Egg Consumption The Cholesterol Factor

Despite the acknowledgement of egg as a functional food that is capable of enhancing
the overall health status of consumers, many consumers still prefer to stay away from
consuming egg due to the perceived risk associated with its consumption (Applegate,
2000; Iyiola-Tunji et al., 2010). Though, various studies have linked potential losses
from consuming products to perceived risks which are classified into five namely
monetary, functional, physical, social and psychological risks, though a school of
thought included time loss risk as the sixth one.

In the case of eggs, monetary risk is associated with potential loss of value for money;
functional risk is associated with potential loss of nutritional benefits and sensory
qualities such as taste and yolk colour; physical risk is associated with potential health

hazard arising from consumption; social risk is associated with potential negative
perception others will have about the consumer who has made the purchase;
psychological risk is associated with potential loss of self respect or self image while
time risk is associated with product availability at the right place and time involved in
preparation.

While all these risks are important to the consumers, consumers considered physical
risks to be the most important risk when it comes to egg consumption due to the
presence of cholesterol that is believed to increase the blood cholesterol level of
consumers. This risk have been implicated as a major predisposing factor to the
incidence of coronary heart disease and other related diseases in consumers, and as a
way of mitigating this risk consumers have been advised by formal and informal sources
to restrict their egg intake. This advice has been found to be in line with the perceived
risk theory which assumes that consumers are inclined to first minimize the perceived
risk rather than maximizing the expected benefits from the product consumption.

Perceived risk generally has two main components namely uncertainty and negative
consequences and one of the ways of reducing the effect of perceived risk on
consumers is to embark on activities that will either increase certainty or/and reduce the
negative consequences; thus to reduce the effect of perceived risk associated with egg
consumption and encourage the consumption of eggs by consumers, numerous studies
(Hu et al., 1999; Kritchevsky and Kritchevsky, 2000; Katz et al., 2003; Njike et al., 2010;
Scrafford et al., 2010; Shi et al., 2010) have been carried out all over the world to
disprove the link between dietary cholesterol present in egg and coronary heart disease.

In a classical study conducted by Hu et al. (1999) which has become a reference point
in the global egg industry for combating the cholesterol myth; they found no evidence of
significant association between egg consumption and chronic heart disease after
collecting and analyzing 866 and 258 incident cases of chronic heart disease and stroke
respectively in men during a eight year period of follow-up, and 939 and 563 incident
cases of chronic heart disease and stroke respectively in women during a fourteen year
period of follow-up, having adjusted for other predisposing factors like age, smoking,
body mass index, bacon and alcohol consumption, total calorie intake, physical activity
and other risk factors. They further discovered that high egg consumption increases the
risk of chronic heart disease and stroke among diabetic men and women; however, a
recent study by Scrafford et al. (2010) did not corroborate Hu et al. (1999) observation
as regards diabetic consumers as their study did not observe any increased chronic
heart disease or stroke among diabetic consum er, nevertheless their result
corroborated Hu et al. (1999) on the relationship between egg consumption and heart
disease as they also did not find any significant association between egg consumption
and mortality from chronic heart disease and stroke.
While the inconsistency about diabetic consumers vis-vis egg consumption is raging on, the result of a study
conducted in China by Shi et al. (2010) revealed a
significant association between egg consumption and
the risk of diabetes among Chinese consumers particularly among the female
consumers, even when the consumers sedentary lifestyle and education was adjusted
for, the association remained significant.

In what seems to add more complexity to the cholesterol debate, Djouss and Gaziano
(2008) while agreeing with the conclusion of Hu et al, (1999); Scrafford et al. (2010);
Kritchevsky and Kritchevsky, 2000; Katz et al., 2003; Njike et al., 2010; Scrafford et al.,
2010; and Shi et al., 2010 that egg consumption does not cause or increase the risk of
chronic heart disease or stroke, they averred from their study that consumption of more
than seven eggs per week will increase the risk of all-cause mortality. They however did
not explain in their study the relationship between egg consumption and all-cause
mortality, neither did they adjust for other mortality pre-disposing factors like lifestyle
and physical activities of the subjects used for their study.

Back to Nigeria, despite the paucity of research work on the effect of egg cholesterol on
consumers blood cholesterol level, results of the study conducted by Ukoli et al. (2009)
did not find any association of frequent consumption of egg with the incidence of
prostate cancer risk among Nigerians. Though Iyiola-Tunji et al. (2010) acknowledged
the increasing awareness of the cholesterol factor as a major perceived risk Nigerian
consumers consider very seriously during their purchase decision making process, this
fear is higher and more prominent among educated consumers; however, their study
did not in any way suggest how to demystify this perceived risk so as to increase
consumers preference towards egg consumption in Nigeria. Nevertheless, Hu et al.
(1999) have advocated that healthy consumers can take one egg per day without any
risk of chronic heart disease and stroke. In addition to Hu et al. (1999)
recommendations, various studies have shown that regular consumption of one to two
eggs per day does not raise blood cholesterol and does not affect a person's lipid
profile, in fact, it is saturated fat that raises cholesterol rather than cholesterol in eggs. If

anything, regular consumption of eggs may help prevent blood clots, stroke, heart
attacks and improves a person's lipid profile.

Conclusion
In investigating the relationship between perceived risk and product loyalty, a negative
correlation between perceived risk and product loyalty has been established; in other
words consumers are less likely to purchase and consume any product like egg whose
perceived risk is high; in such situation consumers are more likely to seek for more
information as a way of ameliorating this high risk. However, egg being a low
involvement product that requires limited decision making and regular purchase by
consumers, consumers are not likely to go out of their way to seek for information rather
they would embark on recalled information search or information brought to them by
marketers of such product to influence their decision making.

Perceived risk has a controlling influence on consumer behavior and it should not be
ignored by poultry farmers because it influences every step of consumer decision
making process. In view of these findings, consumers evaluation of the perceived risk
associated with egg consumption vis--vis its benefit as a functional food could become
a major factor that determines their acceptability for eggs and thus influencing their
purchase behavior. Consequently, the onus is on Poultry Association of Nigeria and
poultry farmers to get this information across to Nigerian consumers.

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