摘要 : The present study was conducted in Hisar district of Haryana state during 2008-10 to find out the emerging preferences for processed foods and factors associated with the preferences for different processed foods among the working... 展开 The present study was conducted in Hisar district of Haryana state during 2008-10 to find out the emerging preferences for processed foods and factors associated with the preferences for different processed foods among the working and non-working women. A sample of 150 working and 150 non-working women from a cluster of 11 villages of Hansi-I block was selected purposively constituting a total sample of 300 women respondents. In the study, various processed foods were divided into eight categories/groups on the basis of the main occassion of use. Among these groups, the highest preference was given to ice-cream (843) followed by chipps (777), bread (669), juice (615), papad (614), tea (608), sauce (540), cheese (549) and noodles (516). Almost similar trend was found among both groups of rural women. It was found that processed foods were relatively more popular among the working women due to their time saving, convenient in use, easy availability, easy to store, less labour required, nutritive value and good taste. Home made processed foods were relatively more preferred by non-working women because of more cheap, pure, fresh and clean having surety about content, whereas working women relatively more preferred market made processed foods. Results also revealed that use-pattern of processed foods increased in the villages for the last 10 years due to the fulfilment of the demand of the children. Due to the increasing education, people have started to use more processed foods. Media exposure was one of the main reasons. Some of them expressed that the people from higher income groups and occupation especially service, business and trade have started to use more processed foods in their families. 收起