Factors affecting university student’s milk and dairy products consumption in the Mediterranean region of Türkiye

Ciência Rural, cilt.56, sa.4, ss.1-12, 2026 (Scopus)

Milk is an important source of many nutrients, including protein, calcium, phosphorus, and vitamins B2 and B12; and needs

to be consumed at all ages. Teenagers that are at the tertiary level of their education process face with new nutrition habits. Many start to

skip breakfast or lunch and start consuming fast food or artificial nutrients and drinks frequently. These changing attitudes among university

students lead to nutritional deficiencies, even if it is not identified at early ages. Accordingly, university level students need to be directed as

consumers of milk and milk-based products for adequate and balanced nutrition. To extend marketing orientation for dairy products towards

younger generations, it is important to understand their needs and nutritional requests. This study determined the milk and dairy product

consumption attitudes of university students with a sample from Türkiye in order to focus on potential policy proposals to promote milk among

young adults. The factors influencing milk and dairy product consumption and their effects were identified and differentiated based on socioeconomic

characteristics of the targeted students including their seniority level. Within this scope, a face-to-face survey was conducted with a

total of 350 university students that study at the center of Antalya province from the Mediterranean region of Türkiye. The factors affecting milk

consumption among the target group were analyzed based on probability. The findings indicated that an increase in age and income levels led

to higher milk expenditure enhanced the tendency to consume milk. It was also found that for the group with a strong preference to consume

long-life and packaged milk, their additional demand diminished after satisfying their basic needs. For university students with lower price

sensitivity, promotional activities and alternative marketing strategies were identified as potentially effective approaches that can be used as

tools to develop the market for milk and milk products.