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1. Introduction
Beekeeping has been represented throughout human history a factor of progress, which contributed to the improvement of nutrition and health, due to the energy that honey consumption provides (Crittenden, 2011) and its therapeutically effects (Ajibola et al., 2012). The rich content in carbohydrates represents, according to Bogdanov et al. (2008), the most important aspect related to the nutritional and therapeutically properties of honey. In addition to carbohydrates, honey contains various compounds with the following beneficial effects to human body: “antimicrobial, antioxidant, antiviral, anti-parasitic, anti-inflammatory, anti-mutagenic, anticancer” (Bogdanov et al., 2008). Saba et al. (2013) also cite honey consumption for medical benefits, due to its nutritional, healing and prophylactic properties. Oryan et al. (2016) summarise the medicinal actions of honey into the following categories: antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, debridement action, stimulation of tissue growth and boosting the immune system. In addition, Rao et al. (2016) discuss about the benefits of honey consumption for eye, neurological and fertility disorders.
The therapeutic properties of honey differ from one type to another, depending on the presence of different phytochemical compounds, namely its botanical origin (Ajibola et al., 2012). According to Bogdanov (2016), the variability of honey represents an opportunity to offer products specific for different consumer segments: for example – unifloral honeys are more marketed and appreciated by European consumers (above all France, Italy or Spain), while blend honeys are more important for non-European consumers. An analysis of exported honey demonstrates that innovative types of honey became more and more interesting for consumers and its healthy attributes determined an increase of the demand (Ignjatijević et al., 2018).
The purpose of this work is to analyse and define different profiles of honey consumers in two EU countries: Slovakia and Romania. The rest of the paper is organised as follows: first, Section 2 provides a framework of literature on honey consumption. Section 3 presents data and methodology: a two-step cluster analysis on data from two EU countries is carried out. In Sections 4 and 5, the survey outcomes and results discussions are illustrated: in addition, a focus on the significance of the health aspects of honey in both countries is discussed. Finally, the last section proposes the conclusion of this study including implications, limitations and future...