Exploring the intersection of food literacy and consumer research: A review, conceptualisation, and agenda for sustainability-focused research

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the importance of consumer food literacy competency as global food experiences were disrupted from individual to systemic levels. Consumer food illiteracy also acts as a barrier to achieve optimal health and sustainability. This study examined what is known about the intersectionality of food literacy and consumer research through a hybrid systematic review encompassing bibliometric and content analysis. Peer-reviewed journal publications (N = 301) meeting the inclusion criteria were analysed to consider citation, geolocational, research area, co-word, and time-phase content strategies employing VOSViewer, Microsoft Excel, and Leximancer software. Examination of the knowledge base of food literacy-consumer research reveals exponential growth in publication rates. The multidisciplinary intellectual structure of the field spans 53 diverse research areas, including consumer food label use, food consumption and choices, sustainability, health, education, skills and knowledge, social media, food security, and COVID-19 research topics. The time-phase analysis reveals that: 1) the intellectual structure of food literacy-consumer research increased in complexity over time, providing a deeper understanding of food literacy; 2) food literacy education is central to food literacy competency to encourage optimal public health and sustainability behaviours; and 3) food literacy competency can be supported through technology (social media and mobile apps) and food literacy measurement. Four propositions are presented to advance food literacy education, technology, research, and policy development. The culmination of the study is the development of the proposed Consumer Food Literacy Knowledge Model, which frames future sustainability-focused food literacy research lenses.