# Exploring Demand: Challenges and Opportunities for Free-From and Organic Foods in Portuguese Market
## 3 Results  
In this study, we considered a sample of 2268 adults living in Portugal, almost all of whom had Portuguese nationality (98.5%). Three-quarters of the respondents were women, with a median age of 41.0 years, ranging between 18 and 85 years. The majority of the respondents had completed high school (68.7%), 85.5% were employed, and 80.5% considered their income enough or to enable a comfortable lifestyle (Table 1). **Free-from foods**  
Almost all the participants (2209 (97.4%)) had already heard about FF foods. The most well known were lactose-free milk (95.3%), gluten-free bread (92.5%), and gluten-free cookies (90.7%). Although only 38% of the participants recognized that someone in their household benefits from using FF products due to allergies and/or food intolerances, 60% admitted \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{l r} \hline \hline Gender & \multicolumn{1}{c}{\(n\) (\%)} \\ Women [_n_ (\%)] & 1745 (76.9) \\ Men [_n_ (\%)] & 523 (23.1) \\ Age [median (P25; P75)] & 41.0 (31.0; 53.0) \\ Nationality [_n_ (\%)] & \\ Portuguese & 2233 (98.5) \\ Other & 35 (1.5) \\ Education [_n_ (\%)] & 110 (4.9) \\ Elementary (1–9 y) & 601 (26.5) \\ Secondary (10–12 y) & 1557 (68.7) \\ Higher school (>12 y) & 423 (18.7) \\ Occupation [_n_ (\%)] & 1515 (66.8) \\ Self-employed & 136 (6.0) \\ Paloved & 73 (3.2) \\ Unemployed & 121 (5.3) \\ Household with children & 864 (38.1) \\ Yes [_n_ (\%)] & \\ Household income [_n_ (\%)] & 759 (33.5) \\ The current income allows for living & 1066 (47.0) \\ It is difficult to live on the current income & 322 (14.2) \\ It is very difficult to live on the current income & 82 (3.6) \\ Don’t know how to judge/Prefer not to say & 39 (1.7) \\ Study or work on food and nutrition & \\ Yes [_n_ (\%)] & 480 (21.2) \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 1: Socioeconomic characterization of the participants (_n_ = 2268). regularly buying those products. The more prevalent allergies and/or food intolerances were lactose (27.9%) and gluten (13.4%) intolerances. The subjects bought these products at supermarkets (1327; 97.6%), specialized shops (501; 36.8%), and local markets (63; 4.6%). The participants were asked about the gluten-free products that they would like to see available on the market, and 57% of them (\(n=1295\)) expressed their opinions. Their answers are depicted in Figure 1. The most popular answer was \"more variety of bread\" (62.8%). Pastry, confectionery products, cookies, and biscuits were also highly desired. About half of the participants also referred to the negative aspects that they identify in FF foods available on the market (59%). The price was undoubtedly the principal negative point referred to (84.9%) followed by the perception that these products contain excessive fat and/or sugar (52.1%) (Figure 2). The main drivers in the choice of an FF product were ascertained. For this, the participants were asked to select three main reasons. As shown in Figure 3, the price (67.6%), healthiness (60.6%), and low sugar content (58.7%) were the most frequently selected features. Figure 1: Free-from products desired in the market (\(n\)). Figure 2: Negative issues of the free-from products available on the market (\(n\)). **Characteristics associated with the purchase of free-from products**  
The characteristics of the respondents associated with the purchase of FF products were also studied. Being a woman and having completed higher education were associated with a higher probability of buying these products, while studying or working in the food and nutrition field decreased that probability. Being older also slightly decreased the probability of purchasing those products (Table 2). **Organic products**  
In this study, the perceptions and attitudes of consumers towards OPs were also ascertained. Most of the respondents buy OPs if they are appealing (42.1%) or buy both organic and non-organic products (29.5%) (Table 3).