Food Neophobia; Word Association; Consumers; Seafood; Scallops

The product development process is complex and requires great attention to consumers. In the present study, the word association technique (WA) and the food neophobia food scale were used to investigate the perception of Brazilian consumers of seafood and scallops, in order to contribute to the development of strategies that can collaborate to increase the consumption of these products. The study was carried out with 738 people, who answered the word association task, food neophobia questions and sociodemographic questions. Participants were divided into three groups according to the degree of food neophobia, and most of them presented with low neophobia. Word associations were mainly related to positive hedonic characteristics. The methods used provided interesting data on consumers' perception of seafood and scallops and can contribute to the development of products that meet consumer expectations.