Objective:

To study food neophobia among Mexican university students in times of the COVID-19 pandemic using the Food Neophobia Scale (FNS).

Methodology:

An online survey was conducted with university students from the center of the country. The reliability and validity of the scale was analyzed with the Cronbach's Alpha test, the structure of the FNS was explored through the Principal Components Analysis.

Results:

The value of food neophobia according to the FNS among the study population was 26.00 ± 6.49, suggesting low levels of food neophobia. Two groups were identified that presented differences in the FNS: neophoilics (20.93 ± 4.05) and neophobics (31.28 ± 3.78), in addition, women were more neophobic than men were.

Limitations:

Food neophobia must be corroborated among more sectors of the population, since the results of this research only represent a specific sector, who are young and are immersed in an educational context.

Conclusions:

The results indicate stability in food neophobia according to previous studies; however, the major change is that women were more reluctant to incorporate new foods into their diet. This may be due the study was carried out at the time of the COVID-19 pandemic, which suggests that this health emergency has emphasized the concern of this sector of the population regarding their eating behavior.

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