Food Quality and Preference最新文献

Food well-being is critical in food marketing and sustainability, yet identifying its key sources and validating them against overall well-being remains challenging. Food marketers struggle to assess contributable factors in strategic decisions. Enhancing Food well-being boosts consumer happiness and sustainability, but lacks a standardized evaluation method. This study introduces a novel Food Well-Being Index (FWBI) embedded in a nomological net using composite-based structural equation modeling to identify key sources of consumer happiness and compare performance across composite variables to promote healthier and more sustainable eating habits. Data from 401 participants are analyzed using partial least squares composite structural equation modeling. Participants provide ratings on 56 statements in the questionnaire, forming the basis for the indicators. An importance-performance matrix analysis is applied to capture important indicators and their performances.

Results reveal individual and environmental well-being as the most salient drivers of food-related happiness, while social well-being demonstrates higher performance. These dimensions are underpinned by motivations for health and environmental responsibility and moderating food well-being to encourage sustainable consumption behaviors.

This empirical study contributes to marketing research and practice in three ways. First, it calibrates the FWBI and identifies key indicators of food well-being. Second, it validates the relevance of food well-being and its impact on overall well-being. Third, it conducts an importance-performance matrix analysis, illustrating how managers in different sectors can use the FWBI to identify essential aspects in food production, design, and retailing, and improve products and services. Therefore, this study has significant implications for sustainability-oriented marketing strategies

Approaches to climate labelling are gaining significant importance in food marketing. Labels that are based on carbon offsets are becoming increasingly popular. However, offsetting-labels have been criticized as misleading and are subject to accusations of greenwashing. The proposal of the EU Green Claims Directive therefore requires companies to substantiate claims. This study employs a consumer survey (n = 2,109) using a between-subjects and within-subjects design to explore how German participants evaluate the climate impact of six food products (ranging from low to very high) through five distinct climate labels: (1) ‘climate-neutral’ (without any declaration), (2) ‘climate-compensated’, (3) ‘climate-neutral and CO₂-compensated product’ (declaration according to the proposed EU Green Claims Directive), (4) informative labels indicating the actual climate impact as a numeric carbon footprint (kg CO₂eq/kg of food) or (5) as an interpretative traffic light-like label. Except for the numeric indication of the carbon footprint (4) and the traffic light (5), all climate labels significantly skewed perceptions of a food’s climate impact positively, compared to the control group without any label. The effect was sometimes even stronger for highly involved consumers. In contrast, the interpretative traffic light climate label helps to correctly assess the climate impact. In summary, green claims such as ‘climate-neutral’ can be misleading by fostering a false perception of a food’s climate impact, even when the compensatory character is explained or justified close to the claim. This challenges the approach of the draft European Green Claims Directive, which posits that additional information (‘substantiation’) is sufficient to avoid misconceptions.

Nowadays, the inclusion of people with reduced intellectual abilities (PWRIA) in all areas of life is being pursued, but so far, there are no specific guides and tests for this population group to be considered while conducting consumer tests. However, consumer tests need to be adapted to be really inclusive of PWRIA in the consumer panels. The aim of this paper was to develop different methodological adaptations to promote the inclusion of PWRIA in sensory consumer tests and to test the adaptations in consumers from the PWRIA group. For this purpose, different scales commonly used in sensory science were adapted to a specific population group with reduced intellectual abilities (RIA). In addition, the utility of the adapted scales was tested by comparing the responses of this consumer group when testing a set of biscuits with those of a control group. Moreover, several modifications of standard questionnaires were tested, such as the use of alternative coding methods of the samples and the use of easy-to-read (E2R) writing rules. No evidence was found on the negative effect of using three-digit number codes in the RIA group, indicating that the specific target group used in this study does not need to replace three-digit number codes for sample identification. A skewed distribution of responses (‘benevolent bias’) was found in the evaluation of samples by the RIA group compared with the control group, indicating the use of non-parametric tests for data analysis.

Mexico has the highest per capita egg consumption in the world and ranks fifth in international egg production. Currently, there is a lack of data on consumer attitudes towards the welfare of laying hens (WLH) and their willingness-to-pay-a-price-premium (WTPPP) for cage-free eggs. To address this gap, a survey was conducted among 1040 Mexican egg consumers in different shopping venues. The average level of concern about hen welfare was 8.6/10, with higher levels of concern among female respondents and those aged 50 and over. Consumers agreed on the impact of welfare conditions on egg quality and the need for hens to be able to express natural behaviors. However, they lacked sufficient information about existing regulations and how hens are reared. At least 54% of consumers were willing to pay a price premium for cage-free eggs and could be further categorized into three groups based on the percentage of price premium they were willing to pay. Gender and age were significant factors differentiating consumer attitudes towards hen welfare at the socio-demographic level. However, these attitudes did not determine WTPPP for cage-free eggs. In contrast, education level played a crucial role in determining WTPPP, but not attitudes towards WLH. Our results indicate that paying premiums for cage-free eggs is insufficient to drive the industry’s conversion to cage-free housing systems for egg production. Rather, a strategy should be implemented to provide consumers with reliable information about alternative production systems to cages and their positive and negative impacts on WLH.

Over the last decades, Front-of-Pack Nutritional Labels (FOPLs) have been introduced in multiple forms as a strong signal to support consumers in making more informed and healthier food choices. Limited attention has been devoted to how such labels interact with other package cues in affecting customers’ food selection processes. Our research aims to investigate the under-explored topic of how the interplay between Front-of-Pack Nutritional Labels and package material affects food quality perception.

By exploring the case of healthy foods in plastic packages through a multi-method research approach, we demonstrate across 3 studies (N=524) that healthy foods (e.g., cereals, salads) packed in plastic packages featuring FOPLs (versus no FOPLs) are perceived as more trustworthy by consumers, moreover we showed that compared to directive labels like the Nutri-Score, non-directive labels such as the NutrInform Battery increase perceived trust in the packaging material, which in turn generates higher perceptions of food health quality. Furthermore, we found that this effect is magnified when the plastic food packaging contains virtuous elements signaling sustainability. This research advances existing knowledge on food labels by offering new insights into their role as external cues that affect not only perceptions of food quality but also perceptions of packaging materials. This includes materials like plastic, which are negatively evaluated by consumers but are in some cases essential for food storage and preservation.

Our findings provide valuable insights for both policymakers and managers aiming at designing initiatives to promote healthy food in the presence of packaging materials perceived as unhealthy or unsustainable.

Human eating behaviour is driven by the need to secure energy demands and the desire for pleasure. Signals from the body guide this behaviour, relying on the ability to sense internal sensations. Impaired interoception has been linked to unhealthy eating habits. However, the impact of anhedonia (reduced ability to experience pleasure) on interoception and eating behaviour has not yet been studied and could enhance our understanding of eating behaviour. We conducted a cross-sectional study using self-report measures on 309 Chinese consumers with high (n = 150) and low (n = 159) anhedonic traits to explore differences in interoceptive experiences of snack food consumption. Specifically, we investigated interoceptive awareness, intuitive eating, and food-related pleasure using validated questionnaires. Additionally, we examined snack intake frequency, drivers of snack food consumption and post-ingestive sensations using self-developed questionnaires. We hypothesised that individuals with high anhedonic traits would exhibit low interoceptive awareness and lower intensity of interoceptive sensations linked to snack food consumption. Consistent with our hypotheses, low interoceptive awareness and intuitive eating were observed in individuals with high anhedonic traits. Furthermore, individuals with high anhedonic traits reported lower food-related pleasure, lower healthy snack intake frequency, and lower intensity of post-ingestive sensations for healthy snacks compared to the group with low anhedonic traits. Differences detected between groups were mainly detected for healthy snacking and not unhealthy snacking. Understanding how anhedonic traits relate to food pleasure and bodily sensations related snack consumption can provide novel insights and clarify focus areas for developing strategies supporting interoceptive awareness for long-term dietary behaviour changes.

Despite extensive consumer testing during product development, healthy snacks often fail in the market. This indicates that other factors are at play besides what is traditionally being tested before product launch. The aim of the study was to examine how exposure to a snack with a health versus taste message affects perceived healthiness, expected tastiness, as well as implicit and explicit consumer liking, and how implicit and explicit liking are related. In a between-subjects design, consumers were either exposed to a snack with health- or taste-related information on the product package. To capture both implicit and explicit consumer reactions, this research utilized a combination of implicit (EEG data) and explicit (questionnaire) measures. Results indicate that explicitly perceived healthiness positively influences expected tastiness and explicit liking when health-related information is present on the product package. Implicit and explicit liking aligned for snacks positioned as tasty, whereas for healthy snacks, implicit and explicit liking did not align. This implies that using implicit measures of liking can help to understand consumer preferences, especially when studying products with health-related information on the product package.

Research has consistently demonstrated the effects of alcohol on memory, but the extent to which memory influences prospective drinking behaviour has not been studied extensively. Here, we adapt and extend theory from the food domain to explore whether memory for a previous drinking episode can reduce the motivation to consume alcohol. Female participants (N = 50) completed the Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test (AUDIT) and were then cued to recall either a previous alcohol drinking episode and estimate the number of alcohol calories consumed (Alcohol Cue, AC) or a control (Neutral Cue, NC). They then consumed an alcoholic beverage in their own time followed by providing an estimate of subsequent alcohol intake. We found that the duration to finish the drink was longer in the AC versus NC condition. Additionally, irrespective of condition, those individuals at a higher alcohol (AUDIT) risk, consumed the drink at a faster rate and wished to consume more subsequent alcohol. These findings suggest that for females, memory for a previous drinking alcohol episode, reduces subsequent desire for alcohol and could offer a potentially useful way to help avoid excess alcohol consumption.

Previous research has shown that consumers associate specific packaging colors with flavors to generate the color-flavor associations for packaging. Previous studies have also demonstrated that people search more slowly for a product when its color is incongruent with its flavor label than when it is congruent with this flavor, indicative of a packaging color-flavor incongruency effect. Here we report a behavioral study designed to investigate whether actual flavor stimuli can also elicit this effect, and if so, how the effect differs when flavor cues are presented as flavor words versus flavor stimuli. Participants were asked to search for a beverage product labeled with a specific flavor after either tasting flavor stimuli or viewing a flavor word. The results showed that the participants responded faster and more accurately when they were cued by flavor words than flavor stimuli. Moreover, we also found that both flavor stimuli and flavor words could elicit the packaging color-flavor incongruency effect, and the effect elicited by flavor stimuli was greater than that elicited by flavor words. The findings of the present study provide empirical evidence of the crossmodal influence of flavor information on visual search, and also have direct implications for using sensory marketing strategies to enhance consumers’ product search efficiency.