Abstract
The results obtained by survey on 320 respondents of different age groups, children, youths, adults, and aged, for preference of prepared foods were subjected to statistical principal component analysis and cluster analysis so as to find a structure of preference for foods.
The results may be summarized as follows :
1. The first and second principal component account for 22.4% and 8.9%, respectively, of the total variances. Furthermore, the preferences of the four groups of respondents can be distinguished on the planes of the two component.
2. The first and second components after rotating their axes by 64° are considered to signify the preference of the children and the aged group.
3. The results of the cluster analysis indicate that 71 prepared food items may be classified. into 6 groups and that by knowing an individual's preference to one prepared food, one can presume his preference to the others in the same group without carrying out actual test.
