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BACKGROUND: Knowledge on food neophobia among African consumers is scarce. Yet a good understanding in this area is essential to support the acceptance of new foods, for instance, when fortifying familiar foods to improve the health and nutritional status of the populace. In this paper, food neophobia among Nigerian consumers was assessed by their attitudes towards unfamiliar beverages, namely turmeric‐fortified drinks. Turmeric was chosen as the Nigerian government is stimulating its production for income generation, but the spice is not commonly used in Nigerian foods and drinks. RESULTS: Familiar street‐vended drinks, i.e. soymilk and the hibiscus‐based drink zobo, were fortified with turmeric. Respondents (483) were allowed to try both the familiar and unfamiliar (turmeric‐fortified) drinks. Subjects also filled in a 20‐item questionnaire concerning attitudes toward food and eating. Food neophobia was measured by the Food Attitude Survey (FAS) instrument ratings. Using the FAS, people who reported liking the fortified drinks ('likers') were compared with those who disliked the drinks ('dislikers') and those who were unwilling to try the drinks ('will not tryers'). Males were found to be more food neophobic than females. Middle‐class income earners, the age group of 26–35 years and respondents with the highest education levels also showed a more food neophobic attitude towards turmeric‐fortified drinks. CONCLUSION: Practical insights are given regarding the introduction of novel foods to Nigerian consumers by paying attention to attitudes from respondents with different demographic characteristics. The use of influencers seems to be a promising approach to address food neophobia in Nigeria. © 2020 The Authors. Journal of The Science of Food and Agriculture published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A marketing company conducting a consumer omnibus survey (COS) in April 2000 was paid to include questions about household ownership of mosquito nets. At the time of the survey, which involved 5018 respondents, most and perhaps all of the nets owned by the respondents would have been untreated, as a product for net treatment was then virtually unavailable. Sampling was conducted in all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. Core questions were asked about socio-demographic and socio-economic characteristics, and commissioned questions were asked about household net ownership, the source of the household's newest net, if any, and the price paid for that net. The data were analysed using bivariate and multivariate methods. Socio-economic status was measured using an asset index. The estimated number of nets was adjusted using information on asset ownership from the national Demographic and Health Survey of 1999. After this adjustment for sampling bias, net coverage and the total number of nets in Nigerian households were estimated to be approximately 9% and 3 million, respectively. The single most important association with net ownership was access to a flit-gun. It appears that COS are a potentially useful source of information for assessing mosquito-net coverage at household level and monitoring changes over time. They have the advantage of being administered frequently, and they are relatively low cost. The present results were comparable with those from other studies conducted at a similar time. The main disadvantage of COS is sampling bias but, as shown here, it is often possible to adjust for this. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]