The Factors Affecting Willingness to Consume Functional Foods in Mersin Province

To have a healthy life and live long; to reduce health cost, risk of illness and to obtain health protection, sustainability and increasing consumer awareness have increased consumer demand for functional food in developing and developed countries. The objective of this study was to determine socio-economic factors and food consumption affecting consumers' willingness to consume functional foods in Mersin Province. For this purpose, a survey was conducted with 384 consumers in 2017 and obtained data was analyzed by using Binomial Probit model. Results show that there was a positive relationship between consumers' willingness to consume functional food and education, income, working in the health sector and paying attention to nutrition information on package. In fact, increasing the level of education and income of the consumers and having knowledge about functional foods increase the willing of consuming these products.