Fish products are an important source of animal protein and being perishable product, a strategic solution to overcome the short life represented by the fresh fish is the development of the breaded fish, a product of quality, convenient and better suited to the modern consumer demand. In Brazil, government programs for school meals have brought support for research to develop new products based on fish that are easily accepted by school children. In this sense, the objective was to detect individual determinants of fish consumption in adolescents aged 12-17 years, aiming the inclusion of breaded fish in school meal. Data was obtained from 92 students in a school located in Rio Grande - RS, by applying a questionnaire with questions about their attitudes and preferences, health consciousness, convenience and socio-demographic factors. The analysis was performed based on the technique of multivariate discriminant analysis, where one seeks to discriminate groups formed according to the frequency of fish consumption (never consumed fish; once a month, twice a month, once a week and more than once a week). The results led to the best discriminating variables in the frequency of fish consumption defined by the Partial Lambda Wilks' mean difference test which were "likes fish" (0.55) and "educational level of parents" (0.88). The first two discriminant models obtained explained 75% of the variance for the frequency of fish consumption. Most individuals presented the idea that breaded products are not healthy, but they had the habit of consuming them at least once or twice a month. The group that never consumed fish said to dislike fish and 50% of the observations are recorded between consuming breaded once a month to more than once a week. These results indicate a potential for breaded fish consumption by adolescents, associated with the need for nutrition education.
attitude; behavior; fish; preference
