Objective: To investigate food insecurity (FI) prevalence in two favelas in Brazil in the early weeks of the social distancing policy, from 27 March 2020 to 1 June 2020. Design: A cross-sectional study using an online questionnaire to elicit information on socio-economic and demographic characteristics, the types of stores visited to buy food, and FI screening. The FI experience was evaluated according to the Brazilian Food Insecurity Scale. Factors associated with moderate or severe FI were investigated using the logistic regression model. Setting: São Paulo city, Brazil. Participants: Totally, 909 householders. Results: Eighty-eight per cent of the households included young women working as cleaners or kitchen assistants and in sales services. One-fifth of the participants were involved in the federal cash transfer programme, called Bolsa Família. There were 92 % households with children. The most frequent experience reported was uncertainty about food acquisition or receiving more (89 %), eating less than one should (64 %), not being able to eat healthy and nutritious food (46 %), and skipping a meal (39 %). Forty-seven per cent of the participants experienced moderate or severe FI. Factors associated with moderate and severe FI were low income, being a Bolsa Família recipient, having a low level of education and living in a household without children. Conclusions: Half of the participants experienced moderate or severe FI, and almost 10 % experienced hunger. Our data suggest that families with children were at a lower risk of moderate to severe FI. It is possible that nationally established social programmes such as Bolsa Família were protecting those families.

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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to evaluate perceived sensory differences of organic and conventional leafy green vegetables through three sensory tests – blind, informed and inverted and the willingness to buy (WTB) them, and associated factors of organic food consumption by these students. Design/methodology/approach The research had a cross-sectional design with university students. First, a questionnaire with 16 statements was presented to 233 consumers with a five-point Likert scale response. The assertions were categorized into five domains: trust in organic production; trust in conventional production; positive attitude to organic; affordable price; and perceived quality. Afterwards, a hedonic scaling was conducted with 150 consumers, 50 in each type of test with conventional and organic leafy green vegetables: lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.); kale (Brassica oleracea L.); common chicory (Cichorium intybus); and endive (Cichorium endivia). Visual aspect, taste, texture, bitterness and overall liking for all samples were evaluated on a nine-point hedonic scale. Findings In general, the participants did not perceive sensory differences during the blind test, but when the information about the vegetables was provided, higher scores were obtained by those products labelled as organic in the informed test and in the inverted test (conventional labelled as organic). This effect was higher for students with stronger attitudes towards organic food. These results indicated that the perceived differences between organic and conventional leafy green by university students tended to be attitudinal and, therefore, can be greatly influenced by the information provided with the product. Originality/value This research showed that university students were influenced by the organic label, revealing their sensory perception about vegetables. This study had multiple methodological approaches, including hedonic scaling and consumers’ WTB. This combination allowed identifying the students’ attitudinal tendency in relation to their sensory perceptions of organic green leafy green vegetables.

Objective: To investigate food insecurity prevalence in two favelas in Brazil in the early weeks from physical distancing policy, between March 27, 2020 to June 1, 2020. Design: A cross-sectional study using online questionnaire to elicit information on socioeconomic and demographic characteristics, the types of stores visited to buy food and food insecurity screening. Experience of food insecurity was collected according to the Brazilian Food Insecurity Scale. Factors associated with moderate or severe food insecurity were investigated using the logistic regression model. Setting: Sao Paulo city, Brazil. Participants: 909 householders. Results: 88% of the households included young women working as cleaners or kitchen assistants and in sales services. One-fifth of the participants were recieving federal cash transfer programme, called Bolsa Familia. There were 92% households with children. The most frequent experience reported was uncertainty about food acquisition or receiving more (89%), to eat less than one should (64%), not being able to eat healthy and nutritious food (46%), and skipping a meal (39%). 47% of the participants experienced moderate or severe food insecurity. Factors associated with moderate and severe food insecurity were low income, being Bolsa Familia recipient, a low level of education, and households without children. Conclusions: Half of the participants experienced moderate or severe food insecurity, and close to ten per cent was hungry. Our data suggest that families with children were at lower risk of moderate to severe food insecurity. It is possible that nationally established social programs like Bolsa Familia were protecting those families.

Resumo O objetivo desse estudo foi investigar os fatores associados à intenção de compra de produtos orgânicos por consumidores. O estudo foi realizado com 244 consumidores voluntários (incluindo alunos e funcionários), escolhidos aleatoriamente, que frequentam a Faculdade de Ciências Aplicadas (FCA). Foi aplicado um questionario com 16 assertivas categorizadas em cinco constructos: confiança no governo e na ciência; atitude positiva a orgânicos; preço; risco/ confiança no produto e; qualidade percebida. As assertivas foram avaliadas utilizando escala Likert de cinco pontos. Com relação ao conceito de produtos orgânicos, 94,67% consideram que alimentos orgânicos são aqueles produzidos sem a utilização de agrotóxicos e sobre a intenção de compra os constructos significativos foram: atitude positiva a produtos orgânicos, qualidade percebida e preço. Conclui-se que é necessário a melhora na divulgação, difusão de informações de estratégias de marketing com relação aos produtos orgânicos.