Introduction

Methodology

Results and Discussion

Mothers

Women with children did not show convenience purchasing behavior and also they make meals on their own at home. Mothers normally look in to healthiest things for their children. Through different types of information gathering methods they use to find information about fats and oils.

• Edible oil types most frequently purchased from supermarkets

Table 1. Edible oil types most frequently purchased from supermarkets.

Table 1. Edible oil types most frequently purchased from supermarkets.

Oil type	Frequency		Percentage
RBD coconut oil	119		46.12
Sunflower oil	57		22.09
Cooking oil or vegetable oil	54		20.93
Olive oil	38		14.73
Virgin coconut oil	35		13.57
White Coconut oil	31		12.02
Soya bean oil	10		3.88
Ghee	8		3.10
Sesame oil	6		2.33
Corn oil	4		1.55

Above table shows different type of edible oils generally purchased by women from supermarkets in Kandy district. And most of the respondents normally purchase more than one type of oil for their daily consumption. It is revealed that, majority of the respondents (71%) purchased coconut oil and from that highest was 46% goes to RBD coconut oil. Even though the contribution from coconut oil is only 3% to the world usage of edible oils when compared with palm oil which is providing 33%, oil Coconut oil is the major cooking oil type from the past in Sri Lanka. With the expansion of consumer awareness about fat and oils and their nutrition, currently there is a considerable demand for sunflower and olive oil as well. But, during the survey it was revealed that Sri Lankan purchasing women have a phobia to purchase palm oil. As they commented, palm oil was the worst type of oil among others. There is no doubt that palm oil is technical utility comes from its high melting point and it's cheap. Sunflower oil and cooking oil or vegetable oil shows the second most frequently purchased oil type from supermarkets. During survey it was observed that most of respondents purchase coconut oil as the major and they also purchase some other vegetable oil (sunflower, olive oil or vegetable oil) as the second option. Corn oil is the least purchased oil type by purchasing women in Kandy.

• Factors that leads consumers to purchase edible oils

During the survey consumers were asked regarding the factors that can affect their purchasing decisions. Findings were illustrated in Table 2. And it reveals that the price of oils was the predominant factor in purchasing oil type from the supermarket. It shows the highest percentage (73%) among other factors. According to the results no one is concerning much about the quality of the container or the color of oil when they are purchasing or selecting oil from supermarkets. Second most concern is about manufacturing and expiry date. From all the respondents 51% said that they are definitely looking at expiry date before buying an oil bottle. 34% of respondents look at the brand name while only 11% look at the nutritional table. Besides, most of the respondents were having limited knowledge on saturation and unsaturation status of oil. Findings were closely similar with a study conducted in Ghana on the awareness of saturated, monounsaturated and unsaturated status of fats and oils(Nondzor, Tawiah and Michael, 2015). And another similar type of study has been conducted in Badulla district Sri Lanka and revealed that very few people have the tendency to buy and consume branded edible oils (Sandamini et al., 2022). When speaking with respondents, it was identified that the brand name of the product has a strong relationship in making their purchasing decision and it comes with a good perceived quality, wealth and social class(Baziana and Tzimitra-Kalogianni, 2019).

• How educational level affects consumer purchasing behavior

Table 3. How educational level affects consumer purchasing behavior.

Table 3. How educational level affects consumer purchasing behavior.

Parameter	Ordinary level	%	Advance level	%	Tertiary level	%
Oil type	0	0	0	0	0	0
Nutritional facts	1	3	13	9	14	16
Quality of the container	0	0	0	0	0	0
Price	12	41	106	75	72	82
Brand name	5	17	54	38	30	34
Manufacture and expiry	22	76	84	60	27	31
Color	2	7	8	6	4	5

Educational level affects significantly (P<0.05) on purchasing behavior Regardless of effect from educational level, price will be the most significant factor look at during purchasing edible oils. However more that 70% of purchasing women who are having secondary and tertiary education give the first place to price when they purchase a cooking oil. Both these group shows nearly equal concern on brand name than purchasing women who have completed only their ordinary level as the highest educational qualification. In contrast 76% of the ordinary level educated people look at manufacture and expiry date. As per the results from a study done by (Wu, 2022) it has been proved that educational level positively matters on the purchasing intention.

• How working status affects consumer purchasing behavior

Table 4. How working status affects consumer purchasing behavior.

Table 4. How working status affects consumer purchasing behavior.

Parameter	Working women	%	Non-working women	%
Oil type	0	0	0	0
Nutritional Facts	21	23	7	4
Quality of the container	0	0	0	0
Price	72	78	118	71
Brand name	55	60	34	20
Manufacture and expiry	76	83	57	34
Color	2	2	12	7

Equally for both groups highest concern is price and it is 71% for non-working and 78% for working women. 83% of working women look at manufacture and expiry as a major concern while only34% of non-working women cares for manufacture and expiry.

• Using same type of oil for stir frying and deep frying

Table 5. Using same type of oil for stir frying and deep frying.

Table 5. Using same type of oil for stir frying and deep frying.

Using same oil	Use two different oils
149	99

Among 258 of respondents 10 are not doing stir frying or deep frying for their daily cooking. 58%of respondents use same oil type for deep frying and stir frying while 38% keep two different oils for deep frying specially. In general, most of the house wives use coconut oil for deep frying.

Table 6. How educational status affects usage of oil for stir frying and deep frying.

Table 6. How educational status affects usage of oil for stir frying and deep frying.

	O/L	%	A/L	%	T/E	%
Same oil type	16	55	76	54	57	65
Different oil type	10	34	62	44	27	31

(O/L-ordinary Level, A/L Advance Level, T/E- Tertiary Education).

Regardless of educational level, nearly 55% to 65% of purchasing women in Kandy use the same oil for both deep frying and stir frying. And most of them use coconut oil for deep frying. Only 30% to 45% of women keep two different types of oils for stir frying and deep frying. There is no any visible effect from educational status for selecting oil for different type of cooking.

Table 7. How working status affects usage of oil for stir frying and deep frying.

Table 7. How working status affects usage of oil for stir frying and deep frying.

	Working women	%	Non-working women	%
Using same oil type	49	53	100	60
Different oil type	40	43	60	36

Even though working women search for most convenient way in cooking 53% of working women use same oil for both deep and stir frying while 60% of non-working women does the same.

• Oil types use for deep frying and stir frying

Table 8. Using same type of oil for stir frying and deep frying.

Table 8. Using same type of oil for stir frying and deep frying.

for normal cooking										for deep frying
Virgin coconut oil	RBD coconut oil	White Coconut oil	Sunflower oil	Cooking oil/vegetable oil	Olive oil	Sesame oil	Soya bean oil	Ghee	Corn oil	Virgin coconut oil	RBD coconut oil	White Coconut oil	Sunflower oil	Cooking oil/vegetable oil	Olive oil	Sesame oil	Soya bean oil	Ghee	Corn oil
13	22	4	18	13	4	2	3	0	1	1	24	8	4	8	11	0	0	0	0

This data was collected from 99 respondent who mentioned that they are using two different type of oil separately for deep frying and stir frying. Still RBD coconut oil is the most used type for both stir and deep frying. Next to coconut oil, olive oil users tend to use olive oil for their normal cooking and for deep frying as well.

• Repeatedly oil usage

Table 9. Usage of repeatedly fried oil.

Table 9. Usage of repeatedly fried oil.

	using more than one time	one time
Frequency	215	43
%	83	17

83% of the respondents use oil more than one time after first cooking while only 17% use oil for just only one time. According to comments written by respondents, one time used oil is normally used by one or two times for cooking. As a summary they are normally reusing oils, which use for "papadam" frying, or any deep frying process but one or two more times after first frying. In this case people are having satisfactory idea about re-usage of oil. They know repeated using is bad for health and it may cause cancers(Kalan, 2019). Re-usage of oil becomes more natural when it comes to deducting kitchen budget. Not even in home scale, in restaurants, and in snack trucks oil is reused to cut down their cost and to increase more profit. It is advisable not to use frying oil more than twice(Deshmukh, 2019). It depend on oil type, temperature of cooking and also storage. If the oil smokes upon heating or if the oil has turned dark and thick it may be good to replace it(Abujazia et al., 2012).

• Purchasing of butter and margarine

Table 10. Purchase of butter and margarine from supermarkets.

Table 10. Purchase of butter and margarine from supermarkets.

Margarine	%	Butter	%
76	29.5	161	62.4

According to the results consumption of animal fats and oil are very limited in Kandy district. In comments most of women mentioned that they normally purchase two type of oils. One healthy oil type (especially sunflower oil or olive oil) along with coconut oil. As the reason for these two purchases they mention that she, her husband or one of their family member is having hyper cholesterol. Therefore they tend to use healthy oil for them and coconut oil for frying foods for kids or for special occasions.

From 258 of total respondents, 161 purchase butter and its percentage is 62% while only 76 of tit (26%) purchase or select margarine for their daily consumption. There is one set of purchasing women who do not purchase butter or margarine for their home consumption. Nearly the percentage is 5%. And at the same time only 17 respondents from 258 of total (7%), do not know that there is a difference in between butter and margarine. All other 93% of respondents know that there is a difference. A survey done by (Graulet et al., 2004) has shown that consumption of butter has a smaller or neutral association with Cardiovascular diseases and diabetes. But still the quantity has to be within the acceptable range.

• How educational status affects selection of butter or margarine from supermarket

Table 11. How educational status affects selection of butter or margarine from supermarket.

Table 11. How educational status affects selection of butter or margarine from supermarket.

Ordinary level				Advance level				Tertiary education
Margarine	%	Butter	%	Margarine	%	Butter	%	Margarine	%	Butter	%
9	31	14	48	44	31	87	62	23	26	60	68

When consider educational level and selection of fat products, in all three educational levels people go for butter purchasing than margarine. 68% from total of purchasing women who have tertiary education goes for butter than margarine (26%). Equally 62% purchase butter and only 31% purchase margarine in the group who are having advance level as their highest educational level. And 48% purchase butter and 31% purchase margarine in the group who are having ordinary level as their highest educational level.

• How working status affects purchasing of butter or margarine from supermarket

Table 12. Working status affects fat purchasing behavior.

Table 12. Working status affects fat purchasing behavior.

Working women				Non working women
Margarine		Butter		Margarine		Butter
Frequency	%	Frequency	%	Frequency	%	Frequency	%
35	38	55	60	41	25	106	64

Among working women Butter (60%) is highest purchased than margarine (38%). Same manner can be seen in the group of non working women. Butter purchasing percentage is little higher than in working women and its 64% while only 25% go for margarine purchasing.

• Sources where people get food related information

Table 13. Different food related information gathering resources among purchasing women.

Table 13. Different food related information gathering resources among purchasing women.

	Frequency	%
Newspapers	77	30
through friends	7	3
TV advertisements	14	5
Face book pages and internet	72	28
Women's magazines	47	18
TV programs about food & health	37	14
Through experience and family practices	52	20
Books	8	3

Highest number of respondents (as a percentage 30%) marked newspapers as their major food related information gathering method. Second most popular information gathering method is facebook and internet. It might be through youtube videos, pages, or articles in internet. As a percentage it's 28%. Third main group is basically respondents who get facts through past experiences and from family practices. 18% of respondents refer women's magazines to find food and health related information, while 15% of purchasing women get information through television programs. According to gathered results, least popular food relation information searching methods are TV advertisements, books and through friends. All three are below 5%. At the same time, most of the house wives and mothers told that they still believe what their parents, grandparents about fats and oil.

• How educational level affects on usage of different food related information gathering resources

With the educational level of purchasing women, type of information search shows different percentages. Significantly women who have tertiary education will use internet or facebook as their major food related information gathering method. And it is 64% while only 11% of purchasing women in the group of advance level and 3% in the group of ordinary level use internet or face book as their food related information searching source. 38% of women who is in level two education (advance level) use newspapers as their major food related information searching method. But, only 17% in level three and 21% from level one use news papers for food related information search. Women magazines are the most popular food related information searching method among purchasing women who are in level one education. But only 10% of level three respondents and 18% of respondents in level two use women’s magazines as their food related information searching method. Least popular method is through friends. And still there is a high percentage for information or knowledge coming through families and past experiences among people who had their education up to advance level.

• How working status affects on usage of different food related information gathering resources

As per the results, working women prefer internet and facebook in searching food related information. From total number of working women (92), 35 of respondents use this method and as a percentage its 35%. Among non-working women the percentage is about 22%. Newspapers are the main information seeking resource among non working women. Usage of women’s magazines and TV programs about food and health shows similar percentage in both working and non-working groups.

Conclusion

References

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