Food Quality and Preference最新文献

Finding strategies to motivate consumers to make food choices that could both boost sustainability and improve their health is crucial. Literature suggests that nudging could be effective in increasing the consumption of healthy and sustainable food. This research aims at determining the effects of different nudges on university students’ food choices in the context of the online pre-ordering system of the university canteens. An experimental study was conducted in Italy with 1,312 participants using a between-subject design with one control and three treatment groups, i.e., Healthy and Sustainable Logo, Dish Placement (order of which dishes are displayed on the menu), and a combination of both nudges. Our main results show that dish placement leads to a significantly increased selection of healthy and sustainable dishes. Furthermore, both placement and the combination of the two nudges could positively influence students who already have strong sustainable and healthy eating behaviors. Finally, the population’s characteristics (i.e., age, gender, being on a low-calorie diet, and living with parents), consumers’ intention to consume healthy and sustainable food, and their eating habits should be considered when identifying a successful nudging strategy.

Food waste is an issue of global concern. Particularly troublesome is the amount of waste at the consumer level, and a need exists for interventions that draw on a deeper understanding of the underlying factors leading to food waste. The research aims were to (1) study the potential of an information-based strategy to reduce household food waste, (2) explore the impact of information on attitudes towards food waste, and (3) explore the reasons underlying perceived changes in household food waste. A controlled randomized trial was conducted, and participants were assigned to one of two groups (Informed, Control) with data collection at two time points (Baseline, Time 2). At both time points, all participants completed a standardized quantitative survey on food disposal in the past 7 days. At baseline, after the food disposal survey was completed, participants in the informed group read a text about food waste and completed a highlighting task. The key result was a significant reduction in household food waste approximately fifteen days after the Baseline, which was found for both experimental groups, albeit slightly larger in the Informed group. This was found despite the Control group having the same attitudes, on average, to engaging in food waste reduction behaviors. To successfully reduce food waste, participants bought less food, used leftover and suboptimal foods, reduced portion size, checked stored foods to use them before expiration, and planned meals. The main reason for not reducing food waste was related to the belief that household food waste was minimal or inexistent. Overall, the research further stresses the potential of information strategies to achieve food waste reductions at the household level and discusses cognitive dissonance as a possible underlying mechanism.

Despite the societal relevance of the topic, experimental evidence on the effects of digital food marketing on adolescents' food attitudes and choice behavior remains relatively scarce. Drawing on the logic model explaining the influence of marketing on health-related responses, the current between-subjects experiment sought to (i) evaluate the effects of exposure to unfamiliar food advertisements on YouTube with respect to adolescents' advertisement and brand recall, brand recognition, attitudes, and food choice in a hypothetical scenario; and (ii) compare the effect of exposure to advertisements promoting healthy (vs. unhealthy) food. Uruguayan adolescents (N = 433; 51% female) were randomly assigned to one of four experimental groups: a control group not exposed to any advertisement, a non-food group exposed to a clothing advertisement, an unhealthy food group exposed to an advertisement promoting a burger, and a healthy food group exposed to an advertisement promoting a salad. Following exposure to the advertisement, participants provided responses linked to advertisement and brand recall, brand recognition, attitudes, and food choice. The findings revealed that the largest effects of exposure to food advertisements emerged for advertisement recall and brand recognition (i.e., the most proximal steps in the logic model). Further, the burger advertisement was more easily recalled than the salad and the non-food advertisements, presumably due to its higher reward value. The effects of the food advertisements on brand attitudes and food choices were more inconclusive, although participants’ sex and frequency of burger consumption consistently moderated the impact of ad exposure on these outcomes, through mainly influencing males and adolescents who consumed burgers more frequently. Together, these results contribute to the literature on the effects of digital marketing by providing causal evidence for the role of advertisement exposure on adolescents’ advertisement and brand recall, brand recognition, brand attitudes, and choice behavior.

This paper aims to gain more insight into potential synergies between food safety and healthy diets with a sustainable protein transition (i.e., reducing protein over-consumption and replacing animal protein with plant protein) in the EU. The paper is based on a systematic analysis of the survey on food safety, organized by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) as part of Eurobarometer wave 97.2 (Spring 2022). Consumers responded somewhat differently to the survey items on chemical contaminants in food than to those on biological hazards in food, plant health and animal health and welfare. They were somewhat more aware of and concerned about the former than the latter. They also had different ideas on the most important healthy diet items. Cluster analysis identified five clusters who, inter alia, focused on conventional options (e.g., eating fewer calories) or the protein replacement options. Multilevel logistic regression analysis showed that food safety awareness and concern variables, explicitly including farm animal welfare, were somewhat stronger associated with the protein replacement cluster than with the conventional cluster. Hence, synergies between food safety and healthy diet issues may stimulate the replacement (not reduction) aspects of a sustainable protein transition. The Discussion suggests that further research should investigate how improving the quality of a week menu with a high diversity of protein sources can help to promote the reduction of over-consumption.

The definition of the term “organoleptic quality” in sensory evaluation of food products does not seem to be consensual. Descriptive or liking methods are generally used to differentiate between wines. Nevertheless, quality evaluation of a product such as wine is defined as an integrated impression, like acceptability, pleasure, aesthetic or emotional experiences during tasting. According to the ‘modality appropriateness’ hypothesis which predicts that wine tasters weigh the most suitable sensory inputs for a specific assessment, the nature of the quality dimensions may modulate sensory influences. The aim of the present study was to evaluate whether the dominant senses during wine assessment depend on the wine quality dimension being evaluated: emotional and aesthetic approaches, assessment of the exemplarity to a PDO, or liking. Expert wine tasters assessed these questions on twenty wines repeatedly, under different tasting conditions: global (all senses), unimodal (visual, smell and taste), and combined senses (visual/smell, visual/in-mouth sensations and olfaction/in-mouth sensations). Psychometric index and regression models suggested a dominance of smell in emotional, and aesthetic assessments, and of visual dominance for exemplarity decisions. Liking is a more plural composite model of wine assessment. As these different dimensions do not share the same multisensory integration processes, quality assessments require a more holistic and multidimensional approach.

There is not much research on how actions that are good for the environment, sustainable and healthy eating behaviors and dietary patterns affect eco-anxiety, or vice versa. The goal of this study is to find out what predicts eco-anxiety or sustainable and healthy eating behaviors among university students. This study was done with 605 undergraduate students. They filled out scales including eco-anxiety, the Turkish version of sustainable and healthy eating behaviors, organic food consumption, and sustainable consumption behavior. Also, the EAT-Lancet Diet scores of the participants were calculated. Pearson correlational analysis was used in order to show the correlational coefficients between scales, and multiple regression analysis was performed to determine the predictors of both climate anxiety and sustainable and healthy eating behaviors. The mean scores of eco-anxiety, meat reduction, organic food consumption, the EAT-Lancet diet, environmental awareness, and reusability were higher among female participants. Eco-anxiety was associated with some types of pro-environmental behaviors. Lower behavioral symptoms related to eco-anxiety, greater organic food consumption, and environmental awareness were associated with higher sustainable and healthy eating behaviors. These findings suggest that eco-anxiety may be considered a motivating force for pro-environmental behaviors like environmental awareness, but behavioral symptoms related to eco-anxiety may have a negative effect on sustainable and healthy eating behaviors. In order to adopt more sustainable dietary patterns, governments should inform people about the impact of their dietary choices on the environment.

The expected taste perception of advertised food is crucial for consumers’ purchase decisions. However, it heavily relies on external food cues. The present study investigates how implied motion affects expected taste perception of food through three experiments, based on the mental simulation perspective. Experiment 1 showed that implied motion improved expected taste perception of advertised food through mental simulation. Experiment 2 found that the effect of implied motion on expected taste perception of advertised food was moderated by food valence. Specifically, for positively valenced food, implied motion improved expected taste perception, while for negatively valenced foods, implied motion worsened it. Experiment 3 focused on positively valenced food, and the results demonstrated that situational context moderated the effect of implied motion on expected taste perception through mental simulation. Situational context improved expected taste perception of advertised food without implied motion, but not of advertised food with implied motion.

Non-profit organisations have developed labelling strategies to communicate the environmental impact of food products, helping consumers make more informed purchase decisions. The evidence on whether environmental food labelling can change behaviours toward environmental meat choices is unclear, due to context factors within shopping environments and differences in attitudes towards meat and the environment. This study investigates attitudes towards an eco-score label on meat products by measuring the influence of meat and environmental attitudes and identifying drivers and barriers through a mixed-methods design. An online questionnaire (N = 255) posed questions concerning meat consumption, label perceptions, and use intentions. Recruitment was via convenience sampling under the criteria of UK dweller, omnivorous diet and over 18 years of age. Nine semi-structured interviews explored the drivers and barriers for intended use through thematic analysis. Perceptions Scores (PS) and Purchase Intention (PI) scores of the label were positive. Results showed an individual’s Meat attachment (affinity) score (MAAS) negligibly influenced PS but provided a moderately negative relationship with PI. Environmental label use and attitudes positively influenced PS and PI. The qualitative data identified label design and concept perceptions as drivers for use, whereas habitual shopping behaviours and perceived price were barriers. The research contributes to the transtheoretical model of behavioural change, identifying that 58% of participants contemplate label use but require more information. Explanations found for the gap between positive perceptions and low behavioural intentions support this, as poor label awareness and knowledge of the environmental impact of meat production were highlighted.

Augmented reality (AR) has emerged as a key method of reducing the intangibility associated with online shopping in and has seen research in fashion, cosmetics, furniture, but not in food delivery, an industry worth $150 billion globally. This study investigates how AR features such as simulated physical control and environmental embedding influence cognitive (quality of mental imagery), affective (ease of evaluation, product liking) and behavioral consumer responses (purchase intention). A total of 503 participants took part in the study, revealing both simulated physical control and environmental embedding to have influenced the ease of evaluation, but not product liking. A mediation analysis between environmental embedding and product liking with quality of mental imagery as a mediator, however, revealed a complete mediation, allowing us to posit it as the reason for the indirect relationship between environmental embedding and product liking. Ease of evaluation did not translate into purchase intentions, although we did discover a strong influence on purchase intention from product liking. This study provides several theoretical contributions contrary to extant AR research and discusses the possible reasonings behind them such as the nature of the product and personal preferences. It also contains takeaways for retailers, our thoughts on research limitations and potential for further research.

In the existing literature, the relationship between the roughness/smoothness of food packaging surfaces and healthiness perception has not been persuasively concluded. To fill this gap, we combined two objective methods to investigate the effect of smooth/rough packaging on food healthiness perception: Brief Implicit Association Test (BIAT) and Event-Related Potential (ERP). The results of the BIAT demonstrated that participants needed a longer time to make decisions in the block of rough packaging and healthy food (RH task) and the D score was 0.22. Consumers unconsciously perceived the block of smooth packaging and healthy food (SH task) as having a stronger intrinsic association than the RH task. Furthermore, the more positive amplitude trend of the P300 component and the more negative amplitude trend of the late negative component (LNC) were induced in the SH task relative to the RH task. The results of the ERP proved that consumers perceived food inside smooth packaging to be healthier. The findings of this study can guide the design of packaging for healthy foods, and manufacturers should make the surface of food packaging smoother or rougher when appropriate.