Market Study of Fermented Rice Bran (FRB)- Incorporated Bakery Products in Leyte, Philippines: Input to New Product Development

Rice bran is typically utilized as animal feed but is recently been used in nutraceuticals due to its vast nutritional components. Using fermented rice bran (FRB) as adjunct food ingredient promotes health among consumers. In the Philippines, adding FRB into foods is a fresh product concept. Developing FRBincorporated food products requires that the new products are consumeroriented, that is, it optimally fit with the needs and expectations of the consumers. The study seeks to assess consumers' perceptions and purchase intention for loaf bread, pan de sal, cookies, and other bread added with fermented rice bran (FRB) as input to developing FRB-incorporated bakery products. Descriptive analysis was performed to analyze the respondents' socio-demographic characteristics, purchase and consumption data for the existing bakery products, and their awareness, perceptions, and purchase intensions for FRB-incorporated bakery products. Binary regression analysis was employed to determine the factors affecting consumers' purchase intention toward bakery products added with FRB. Results showed that majority (79%) of the respondents perceived FRBincorporated bakery products as nutritious. Their willingness to pay for FRBincorporated loaf bread (PhP53.39/piece), FRB-incorporated pan de sal (PhP3.80/piece), FRB-incorporated other breads (PhP7.67/piece), and FRBincorporated cookies (PhP8.31/piece) were higher than the prices of the existing (non-FRB-incorporated) bakery products. Regression analysis reveals that educational attainment (coefficient=0.86, p=0.038), mother as household decision-maker (coefficient=2.40, p=0.051), consumers' perception for the FRBincorporated bakery products being healthy (coefficient=3.29, p=0.022) and perceived good taste (coefficient =0.19, p=0.001) were significant factors affecting consumers' willingness to buy bakery products added with fermented rice bran. The results can be used by product developers, potential technology adopters, and other stakeholders for developing FRB-incorporated bakery products.