Co-creation of a healthy dairy product with and for children

Children’s involvement in new product development may contribute to ensure that healthy alternatives meet their wants and needs. Co-creation is a potential approach to bridge the world of the child and the grown-up product developer. In this context, the objective of the present work was to explore the potential of a cocreation approach with children to develop a healthy dairy product. A total of 52 school-aged children (54%
girls, 6–13 year old) recruited from an after-school club in Montevideo (Uruguay) participated in co-creation workshops. Two sessions were carried out. In the first session, children developed a dairy product using a set of ingredients and proposed strategies to promote their product. Children showed a high level of engagement during the activity and provided actionable ideas for product development. Three key factors drove the product formulation (familiarity, hedonics, and healthiness), whereas common communication strategies were proposed by the participants to promote their products. In the second session, children evaluated four products developed
by the researchers based on children’s ideas. The products showed high overall liking scores (5.9 to 7.9) despite the inclusion of novel and healthy ingredients and the lower sugar content compared to similar commercial products available in the Uruguayan marketplace. These results show the potential of involving children in the co-creation of healthy dairy products. Considering the lack of published studies regarding the use of co-creation approaches with children in the food domain, the present work provides useful insights for the implementation of
co-creation to develop innovative products with and for children.

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La legislación uruguaya protege el derechode autor sobre toda creación literaria, científica o artística, tanto en lo que tiene que ver con sus derechos morales, como en lo referente a los derechos patrimoniales con sujeción a lo establecido por el derecho común y las siguientes leyes (LEY 9.739 DE 17 DE DICIEMBRE DE 1937 SOBRE PROPIEDAD LITERARIA Y ARTISTICA CON LAS MODIFICACIONES INTRODUCIDAS POR LA LEY DE DERECHO DE AUTOR Y DERECHOS CONEXOS No. 17.616 DE 10 DE ENERO DE 2003, LEY 17.805 DE 26 DE AGOSTO DE 2004, LEY 18.046 DE 24 DE OCTUBRE DE 2006 LEY 18.046 DE 24 DE OCTUBRE DE 2006)