Consumer Behavior and Food Choice

This paper addresses two questions: (1) How does the visibility and convenience of a hedonic food influence one's consumption, and (2) how do these factors influence one's estimate of how much he or she had consumed? Both questions have important implications for clinicians and for the nutritionally concerned. Answering the first question will show the extent to which two environmental factors (visibility and convenience) influence consumption. Answering the second will show the extent to which consumers overestimate or underestimate the influence of these factors. This is important in helping individuals monitor consumption patterns of which they may be unaware.

This paper aims to identify predictors of consumer ethnocentrism in the food market. An online survey was conducted in a sample of 1000 Polish consumers, which was representative by sex, age, education level, urban–rural divide, and region. The 10-item CETSCALE was applied. In a retrograde stepwise regression model, consumer ethnocentrism in the food market was positively related to tradition and conformity Schwartz values, to the pride of being Polish, and to such product characteristics as the country of origin, distance from the producer, and natural content. It was negatively related to the universalism value and to being a student. To gain further insights into the predictors of consumer ethnocentrism in the food market for either gender, separate regressions were conducted among men and women. Three predictors affected positively and significantly consumer ethnocentrism in the food market both among men and among women, namely the tradition Schwartz value, pride of being Polish, and importance attached to distance covered by the food product from the producer to the shop, which is related to the preference for local food. Moreover, consumer ethnocentrism among men was dependent on their food choice motive–environmental friendliness, whereas consumer ethnocentrism among women was affected by the importance attached to the product’s country of origin, and it was negatively related to women’s younger age.

This study uses the consumer affinity concept to examine the multiple motives that may shape con-sumers' relationships with food. The concept was applied in a study on four broad product types in the Netherlands, which cover a wide range of the market and may each appeal to consumers with different affinities towards foods. These product types may be denoted as 'conventional', 'efficient', 'gourmet' and 'pure'. A comparative analysis, based on Higgins' Regulatory Focus Theory, was performed to examine whether food-related value motivations could explain different consumer affinities for these product types. The affinities of consumers were measured by means of a non-verbal, visual presentation of four samples of food products in a nationwide survey (n ¼ 742) among consumers who were all involved in food purchasing and/or cooking. The affinities found could be predicted fairly well from a number of self-descriptions relating to food and eating, which expressed different combinations of type of value motivation and involvement with food. The analysis demonstrated the contrasting role of high and low involvement as well as the potential complementarity of promotion-and prevention-focused value motivation. It is suggested that knowledge of the relationships between product types, consumer affinities and value motivation can help improve the effectiveness of interventions that seek to promote healthy and sustainable diets in developed countries.

Access to nutritious food is imperative to physical well-being and quality of life. Previous food environment studies have revealed a disparity of access to healthful food on various geographical scales. An overlooked facet of this spatial perspective is the impact of the food environment at the individual level. Individuals tend to make diverse food purchasing and dining choices, including where, when, how, and which types of food to acquire. An unexplored avenue for further investigation is measuring the extent to which people’s preference for food is elicited by exposure to their immediate food environment. This paper takes an innovative approach to this question by soliciting individual data about food-related activities from social media, or specifically, “tweets” (messages sent on Twitter). With spatiotemporally tagged information, tweets provide an ideal method for measuring the exposure to the food environment in real time. This measure, as a representative of individual food access, is associated with users’ particular diet choices conveyed in their tweets. By comparing groups of Twitter users who shop in grocery stores to those who dine at fast food restaurants, we found that the prevalence of grocery stores that stock fresh produce within an individual's neighborhood may significantly influence him or her to make nutritious food choices. This study has a great potential to inform health professionals and stakeholders of the significance of social media in assisting with crowdsourcing human subject data that incorporate spatiotemporal dimensions and to explore individual diets in relation to their perceived food environment, which can positively impact the health of communities.

Chile recently implemented a food labeling law that requires packaged foods with sugar, saturated fats, sodium, and/or calorie content that exceeds government-defined thresholds to carry a front-of-package warning for each excessive nutrient. This law does not prohibit the use of nutrient content (NC) marketing claims on packages, as long as the claims do not directly contradict the warnings. Yet, having NC claims alongside nutrient warnings might send mixed messages confusing consumers about the overall healthiness of a product. The present study tests the co-occurrence of warning labels and NC claims in breakfast cereal packages on product perceptions and behavioral intentions of Chilean adults in a 3 (warnings: none, high calorie, high calorie/high sugar) × 3 (NC claims: none, fiber/wholegrain, low fat/cholesterol-free) mixed-measures experiment. Fiber-related claims had a main effect leading to more positive ratings of the product, compared to having no NC claims or fat-related claims. These positive ratings extended beyond perceptions of the fiber content to perceptions of overall healthiness, naturalness, quality, vitamin content, and intentions to purchase and recommend the product—a health halo effect. No significant interaction between warnings and NC claims was found. However, warnings had a main effect on perceptions irrespective of the presence of NC claims, with one warning significantly reducing ratings, dampening any halo effects, and two warnings further dampening any effects. These findings indicate that warning labels can mitigate, but not eliminate the influences of NC claims on consumer perceptions of product healthiness. / Mediano Stoltze, F., Busey, E., Taillie, L. P. S., & Dillman Carpentier, F. R. (2021 online). Impact of warning labels on reducing health halo effects of nutrient content claims on breakfast cereal packages: A mixed-measures experiment. Appetite, 105229.

How aware are people of food-related decisions they make and how the environment influences these decisions? Study 1 shows that 139 people underestimated the number of food-related decisions they made—by an average of more than 221 decisions. Study 2 examined 192 people who overserved and overate 31% more food as a result of having been given an exaggerated environmental cue (such as a large bowl). Of those studied, 21% denied having eaten more, 75% attributed it to other reasons (such as hunger), and only 4% attributed it to the cue. These studies underscore two key points: First, we are aware of only a fraction of the food decisions we make. Second, we are either unaware of how our environment influences these decisions or we are unwilling to acknowledge it.

The proportion of the British population reducing their consumption of animal food products has increased dramatically over the last decade, while vegetarian and vegan options are now widely available in supermarkets and restaurants across the UK. This phenomenon presents vital benefits for climate change, environmental degradation, human health and animal welfare. Yet, little research has investigated the rapidly growing trend. A broader understanding of the decision to reduce one's consumption and the cognitive, social and physical processes involved in maintaining dietary changes is essential for policy makers, campaigners and researchers working toward a sustainable future. Meat reduction and vegan campaigns by non-governmental organisations serve as a primary promoter of reduction and present a unique opportunity to research reducers when they may first be seeking a dietary transition. The theoretical framework employed within this dissertation combines the first comprehens...

The proportion of the British population reducing their consumption of animal food products has increased dramatically over the last decade, while vegetarian and vegan options are now widely available in supermarkets and restaurants across the UK. This phenomenon presents vital benefits for climate change, environmental degradation, human health and animal welfare. Yet, little research has investigated the rapidly growing trend. A broader understanding of the decision to reduce one's consumption and the cognitive, social and physical processes involved in maintaining dietary changes is essential for policy makers, campaigners and researchers working toward a sustainable future. Meat reduction and vegan campaigns by non-governmental organisations serve as a primary promoter of reduction and present a unique opportunity to research reducers when they may first be seeking a dietary transition. The theoretical framework employed within this dissertation combines the first comprehensive model of behaviour change, the Behaviour Change Wheel (Michie, Atkins and West 2014), with the fields of social consumption and sustainable and ethical consumption to analyse the reducer and the reduction process through a more comprehensive framework. A mixed-methods approach has been used to investigate the barriers, motivators and goals of participants in seven UK-based meat reduction and vegan campaigns through focus groups (n=33) and a longitudinal web-based survey (n=1,587). To the best of the researcher's knowledge, this represents the most comprehensive study of reducers and reduction campaigns to date. Interviews with campaign staff (n=13) and an examination of campaign messaging and strategies have been used to further analyse campaign participation and the reduction process. Findings reveal key trends within highly diverse approaches to reduction, including a reduction hierarchy that prioritises red meat and neglects fish and egg reduction through a tendency for small, gradual dietary changes. While meat reducers were likely to be successful on a short-term basis, they were unlikely to maintain reductions over a prolonged period. Those with the greatest levels of abstention were, instead, the most likely to meet their reduction goals. Animal protection also emerged as key for many reducers, potentially creating a new perspective - a mindshift - that re-positions the animal source within the consumption process. Findings suggest that policy makers, campaigners and advocates need to consider the psycho-social element within the reduction process, with the potential for a wide variety of consumer types and, importantly, the need to not simply address what is consumed but to address normative omnivorous consumption that is formed around a meat component and de-values meatless meals.

Food production, especially meat, is one of the main pressures on the environment and experts agree that diets have to change into a more sustainable direction. The present paper examines whether Self-Determination Theory (SDT) can be of help in fostering more sustainable food choices by taking a closer look at the relationship between food-related types of motivation and different aspects of meat consumption, based on a survey among 1083 consumers in the Netherlands. SDT appeared to be useful for studying why consumers can be motivated to make more sustainable food choices and also why these preferences are not shared by all consumers. Consumers with different types of motivation differed in their level of meat consumption (frequency and portion size), reasons for not frequently eating meat, frequency of buying carefully produced meat, frequency of buying meat substitutes, and preferences in favour or not of plant-based protein products. Internalized motivation was the main factor that made a difference, but intrinsic enjoyment of cooking and eating also played a role. The conclusion is that SDT provides both theoretical and policy-oriented insights into fostering more sustainable food choices.

Adapting Western meat consumption to health and sustainability challenges requires an overall reduction of industrially produced animal proteins plus a partial replacement by plant proteins. Combining insights on food, environment, and consumers, this paper aims to explore change strategies that may help to meet these challenges, such as promoting smaller portions of meat ("less"), smaller portions using meat raised in a more sustainable manner ("less but better"), smaller portions and eating more vegetable protein ("less and more varied"), and meatless meals with or without meat substitutes ("veggie-days"). The underlying logic of the strategies was clarified by analyzing dietary choices. A nationwide sample of 1,083 Dutch consumers provided information on current eating practices and potential changes. The results show that strategies to change meat eating frequencies and meat portion sizes will appeal to overlapping but partly different segments of consumers and that these strategies can be applied to address consumers in terms of their own preferences. The strategies appeared to have different strengths and weaknesses, making them complementary pathways to facilitate step-by-step changes in the amounts and the sources of protein consumed.

Production of functional beverage is an excellent method for incorporation of phyto-chemicals, anti-oxidants and beneficial components. In the present investigation, an effort has been made to prepare a Ready-To-Serve (RTS) functional beverage by exploiting the medicinal, nutritional and organoleptic properties of ginger, lime juice and palmyra sugar candy to find out the most suitable proportion of ginger and lime extracts and to assess the shelf life of the formulated beverages. The beverage combinations were prepared by blending of ginger and lime juices at different % of 20:0, 18:2, 16:4, 14:6, 12:8, and 10:10 and sweetened by 15% of plamyra sugar candy. Physico-chemical, microbial and sensory analyses were carried out immediately after preparation and storage. The declining trends in pH, TSS and ascorbic acid and an increasing trend in titratable acidity and total sugar were noted with advancement of storage period. Based on the quality evaluation, it was concluded that the formulation with 12% of ginger and 8% of lime juice extract had highest mean scores for organoleptic characteristics that could be stored at 30±1°C temperature and 70-75% of RH for a period of 12 weeks and which is safe for human consumption.

In Ghana, out-of-home ready-to-eat foods including fast food generally have been associated with food safety problems. Notwithstanding, fast food production and consumption are increasing in Ghana and therefore this study sought to determine the food safety issues of importance to consumers and the extent to which they worry about them. First, through three focus group discussions on consumers' personal opinions about food safety issues, some emergent themes were obtained, which were used to construct an open-ended questionnaire administered face-to-face to 425 respondents systematically sampled from 20 fast food restaurants in Accra. Findings showed that most fast food consumers were concerned about food hazards such as pesticide residue in vegetables, excessive use of artificial flavour enhancers and colouring substances, bacterial contamination, migrated harmful substances from plastic packages, and general unhygienic conditions under which food is prepared and sold. Consumers also raised concerns about foodborne diseases such as cholera, typhoid, food poisoning, diarrhoea, bird flu
and swine flu. The logistic regression model showed that being male increased the likelihood of worrying about general food safety issues and excessive use of flavour enhancers than in females while being youthful increased the likelihood of being worried about typhoid fever than in older consumers. These
findings imply that consumers in urban Ghana are aware and concerned about current trends of food safety and foodborne disease challenges in the country. Therefore, efforts targeted at improving food safety and reducing incidences of foodborne diseases should not only focus on public awareness creation
but should also design more comprehensive programmes to ensure the making of food safety rules and guidelines and enforcing compliance to facilitate availability and consumers' choice of safe foods.

Purpose – The aim of this study is to examine profiles of consumers in organic foods market segments and determine their attitudes toward organic
food consumption. Consequently, we explore whether there are differences among these consumer segments in terms of their health orientation,
socially responsible consumption, environmental responsibility and values and lifestyles.
Design/methodology/approach – A total of 316 consumers were surveyed at supermarkets and malls in one of the largest metropolitan areas
of a European city.
Findings – The cluster analysis performed indicates that there are three segments based on consumer attitudes toward organic foods: favorable,
neutral and unfavorable. The results show that the consumer segment with more favorable attitudes toward organic foods exhibits higher levels of
health orientation and socially responsible consumption behavior when compared to other segments.
Practical implications – It important for marketers to understand organic foods market segments so that they can target them with the
appropriate marketing mix. For this reason, we attempt to identify consumer segments based on their attitudes and behavior concerning organic
foods. In doing so, we examine the profiles of consumers in each organic food market segment and their attitudes toward organic food consumption.
Originality/value – Organic food consumption is growing at a fast pace despite economic problems around the world. This study has identified
three market segments (consumer profiles) with different attitudes and behavior towards organic foods.

Purpose This research aims to understand the behaviour of food consumption and waste in Peruvian households at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Design/methodology/approach Exploratory research was carried out with Peruvian households, using a descriptive method design. Data were analysed using descriptive and multivariate statistics. A self-administered questionnaire of 60 questions was used, applied by social networks in May 2020, obtaining 418 valid questionnaires. Findings The main findings allow the identification of a behaviour aiming the avoidance of waste and purchasing with a cost–benefit orientation, which is followed by purchase planning, knowledge and use of information on labels, food storage and cooking skills. Practical implications For companies in the food sector, relevant information is provided on consumer behaviour. For policymakers, elements are provided for the promotion of responsible consumption and zero waste. For the academy, an explanation is provide...

The aim of this thesis is to answer to my main research question: “can mass media affect our food choices?”.
Talking about veganism as an increasing lifestyle, I first choose to analyze some researches, in the pre-existent literature, on how mainstream media face the issue of veganism through information on newspapers.
The impression of a marginalized condition, due to vegan counterculture, make me ask about where and why vegans feel actually more free, by putting in evidence their bond to new media such as social network, especially Facebook.
Through an empirical research, known as focus group, I ask a group of 8 vegans about 1) their vegan experience; 2) their vegan experience on social network; 3) their vegan experience on mainstream media.
Thanks to this discussion group, I can notice that actually vegans prefere using socials to express themselves, to share photos and to get in touch with other vegans, in contraste to their perception of traditional media, often felt as factious and still arrayed with strong economic powers, even if it must be sayd that not all of them think about it the same way.

Many people enjoy eating meat but dislike causing pain to animals. Dissociating meat from its animal origins may be a powerful way to avoid cognitive dissonance resulting from this 'meat paradox'. Here, we provide the first comprehensive test of this hypothesis, highlighting underlying psychological mechanisms. Processed meat made participants less empathetic towards the slaughtered animal than unpro-cessed meat (Study 1). When beheaded, a whole roasted pork evoked less empathy (Study 2a) and disgust (Study 2b) than when the head was present. These affective responses, in turn, made participants more willing to eat the roast and less willing to consider an alternative vegetarian dish. Conversely, presenting a living animal in a meat advertisement increased empathy and reduced willingness to eat meat (Study 3). Next, describing industrial meat production as " harvesting " versus " killing " or " slaughtering " indirectly reduced empathy (Study 4). Last, replacing " beef/pork " with " cow/pig " in a restaurant menu increased empathy and disgust, which both equally reduced willingness to eat meat and increased willingness to choose an alternative vegetarian dish (Study 5). In all experiments, effects were strongly mediated by dissociation and interacted with participants' general dissociation tendencies in Study 3 and 5, so that effects were particularly pronounced among participants who generally spend efforts disassociating meat from animals in their daily lives. Together, this line of research demonstrates the large role various culturally-entrenched processes of dissociation play for meat consumption.

All stakeholders within the livestock industry face a considerable challenge in achieving a balance between economic viability, environmental responsibility and social acceptability; and thus maintaining sustainable food production. This is exacerbated by information about farming practices and management systems that accentuate consumer concerns and lead to confusion as to the roles of productivity, efficiency and animal health in modern agriculture. The suggestions that intensive farms or large-scale herds have negative effects on cattle health; that we can assess cattle welfare by applying anthropomorphic philosophies; and that extensive systems are inherently beneficial to the environment, appear to be intuitively correct. Yet these suppositions are not as simple as they are often presented in mass media articles aimed at the consumer and lead to a multitude of other questions. Although it is tempting to try and overcome these issues by providing factual information, we cannot overcome negative publicity simply by supplying data and statistics. As an industry, we need to combine improved communication mechanisms with a better understanding of how consumer food-buying decisions are made to ensure future social acceptability and sustainability.

Recent legislation by the United States and European Union governments now mandates the provision of country-of-origin
(COO) information at the point of purchase for a variety of meats, fruits, vegetables, and other assorted food products. To better
understand the significance of these regulatory changes, two decades of existing COO food labeling research are synthesized,
reviewed, and discussed. The implications for two primary sets of actors within aggregate marketing systems, consumers and
practitioners, are then discussed from a macromarketing perspective. Based on the reviewed literature, the authors conclude
that little generalizable knowledge about COO food labeling effects exists, and further identify a lack of sufficient theoretical application
and development as a primary reason. Consequently, the exact impact of mandatory (and voluntary) COO labeling initiatives
for consumers and practitioners still remains unclear and highly debatable. Thus, as these initiatives continue to make
country-of-origin labeling more commonplace around the world, it is crucial that additional theory-driven research be conducted,
especially from a macromarketing perspective, to foster more generalizable knowledge about the complex role of COO information
in aggregate food marketing systems.

This article facilitates deeper insight into label-related consumer information acquisition behaviour. An integrated framework of label information search (LIS) has been developed based on a synthesis of related literature and explorative research conducted by analysing online discussions among customers (netnography). The framework focuses on three main groups of personal factors that serve as antecedents of LIS: general personal factors (e.g. health consciousness and socio-demographics), label-related personal factors (e.g. label-related self-efficacy, trust in labels and the perceived usefulness of labels) and product category-related personal factors (trust in food products, enduring involvement, experience and perceived quality differences). Important  characteristics of the framework are its process-oriented nature and the dynamically
changing relationships among its concepts. LIS is an antecedent to and a consequence of influencing factors. This article offers managerial implications and serves to incite future inquiry in this field.

This paper addresses the relationship between meat eating and climate change focusing on motivational explanations of environmentally-relevant consumer behavior. Based on a sample of 1,083 Dutch consumers, it examines their responses to the idea that they can make a big difference to nature and climate protection by choosing one or more meals without meat every week. This idea can be seen as a new opportunity to help mitigation, but also as a counterproductive message that might trigger negative responses among consumers who are skeptical about climate change. As hypothesized, the meat-free meal idea was received more positively by consumers who valued care for nature and more negatively by those who did not value it. Also as hypothesized, the meat-free meal idea was received more negatively by consumers who were skeptical about the seriousness of climate change. The idea was not received more positively by those who did take it seriously. The results support the notion that the meat-free meal idea may serve as a counterproductive message. From the perspective of motivation, it is preferable not to isolate the meat-climate issue but to develop an approach that combines multiple values regarding food choices, including health and nature-related values.

A field experiment was conducted to assess how diners' taste evaluations change based on how much they paid for an all-you-can-eat (AYCE) buffet. Diners at an AYCE restaurant were either charged $4 or $8 for an Italian lunch buffet. Their taste evaluation of each piece of pizza consumed was taken along with other measures of behavior and self-perceptions. Their ratings were analyzed using 2 × 3 mixed design analysis of variance (ANOVA). Diners who paid $4 for their buffet rated their initial piece of pizza as less tasty, less satisfactory and less enjoyable. A downward trend was exhibited for each of these measures with each additional piece (P = 0.02). Those who paid $8 did not experience the same decrement in taste, satisfaction and enjoyment. Paying less for an AYCE experience may face the unintended consequence of food that is both less enjoyable and rapidly declining in taste and enjoyability. In a sense, AYCE customers get what they pay for.

The achievement of sustainability and health objectives in Western countries requires a transition to a less meat-based diet. This article investigates whether the alleged link between meat consumption and particular framings of masculinity, which emphasize that ‘real men’ eat meat, may stand in the way of achieving these objectives. From a theoretical perspective, it was assumed that the meat-masculinity link is not invariant but dependent on the cultural context, including ethnicity. In order to examine the link in different contexts, we analyzed whether meat-related gender differences varied across ethnic groups, using samples of young second generation Chinese Dutch, Turkish Dutch and native Dutch adults (aged 18-35) in the Netherlands. The Turkish group was the most traditional; it showed the largest gender differences and the strongest meat-masculinity link. In contrast, the native group showed the smallest gender differences and the weakest meat-masculinity link. The findings suggest that the combination of traditional framings of masculinity and the Western type of food environment where meat is abundant and cheap is bound to seriously hamper a transition to a less meat-based diet. In contrast, less traditional framings of masculinity seem to contribute to more healthy food preferences with respect to meat. It was concluded that cultural factors related to gender and ethnic diversity can play harmful and beneficial roles for achieving sustainability and health objectives.

This publication aims to present barriers to the development of
sustainable food consumption from the perspective of consumers. The purpose of the research was to use the results of own research and other authors, supplemented with the knowledge and experience of the author, using the method of desk research. The information gathered by the author (based on own research) on the risks resulting from the implementation of a sustainable consumption model allowed to identify barriers to the development of sustainable consumption from the perspective of consumers and to categories them. The study shows that
the development of sustainable consumption is associated with a number of barriers, such as 1) economic barriers (higher prices, supply-related costs), 2) time barriers (higher time expenditure for balancing the consumption model in relation to conventional consumption, in conjunction with the preparation of meals on the farm domestic and self-supply issues and as a result of searching for appropriate products), 3) organisational barriers (need to involve new rules, selfcontrol), 4) social barriers (dissatisfaction of the household, new fashion, refusing
pleasure), 5) barriers resulting from market imperfections (difficult access to products, narrow range, insufficient information). The results obtained are useful for government institutions, production and trade companies operating in the agri-food sector as well as pro-environmental and prosocial organisations that, knowing what constitutes a barrier to balancing consumption, these forms of
behaviour, can design strategies to achieve positive results in areas related to the environment, economy and society.

This quantitative study of commodity prices examines the
early modern food market, a period and topic widely neglected by
historians owing to a lack of data or palaeographic expertise that has
prompted scholars to turn their attention to later periods. Despite the
ubiquitous presence of fish in European food markets, specialists have
difficulty identifying its consumption levels or price. This paper provides
a wide panorama of qualitative observations about food provisioning
practices and the cost hierarchy of commodities on the French market
from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century. We conclude that sea fish
became an affordable alternative source of protein in the general diet.
Our research demonstrates that cod fish occupied a good place on the
French food market, competing successfully against top-selling
commodities such as meat.

Depuis la Stratégie mondiale de l’OMS en 2004, les résultats des politiques de santé en matière de nutrition n’ont engrangé que de timides réussites. Pourtant, les maladies chroniques sont maintenant les premières causes de mortalité en Europe et en Belgique. Dans le cadre du projet Food4Gut, programme d’excellence de la Région wallonne, ce rapport propose une synthèse de 68 mesures qui peuvent être prises pour réduire la prévalence de l’obésité dans la région. Étant donné la nature complexe et multifactorielle de l’obésité, seul un plan global est susceptible de provoquer un impact suffisant sur les régimes et les habitudes alimentaires des Wallons. On ne trouvera pas ici une étude approfondie de chaque mesure proposée, mais plutôt la caractérisation de leurs intérêts, de leurs limites et des synergies qu’elle entretient les unes avec les autres. En outre, l’accent est porté sur la vision d’ensemble. Les pouvoirs publics sont invités à dépasser la focalisation sur la responsabilisation à outrance du consommateur, sans pour autant adopter un protectionnisme excessif, souvent contre-productif, car entraînant une réactance. Ce rapport préconise la mise en place, à mi-chemin de ces deux approches, d’un environnement alimentaire propice aux choix nutritionnels sains, mais aussi protecteur en ce qu’il favorise la consommation de produits recommandés par les agences de santé publique, et notamment plus de fruits et légumes frais. Une telle politique globale nécessite la coordination de nombreux secteurs, acteurs et cadres réglementaires, y compris :
• information du consommateur sur les aspects nutritionnels ;
• orientation de l’offre agricole et de produits transformés vers des produits plus sains, améliorer la disponibilité en produits frais, de saisons, locaux ;
• discriminer les produits sains des produits trop gras, trop sucrés, trop salés à l’aide des outils économiques que sont les taxes et les subsides ;
• encourager les citoyens à se réapproprier leur alimentation et les moyens de production et de distribution alimentaires à l’aide d’outils de gouvernance démocratique ;
• encourager les professionnels de santé à adopter des approches préventives et respectueuses des personnes.
Sans coordination, chaque mesure sera isolée et son effet court-circuité ou bien contourné. C’est pour cette raison que trois catégories d’acteurs sont concernées : les pouvoirs publics, les acteurs économiques et la société civile. Leur synergie est exigée, car sans cela ils se neutralisent et perpétuent le statu quo. En somme, il convient de protéger les consommateurs les moins avisés, d’encourager les initiatives de tous les acteurs pertinents, à condition que leurs objectifs entrent dans le cadre d’un plan d’action global et directif, dépassant le seul volontarisme -néanmoins précieux- des parties prenantes.
L’introduction fournit la base théorique pour comprendre les causes et les mécanismes de l’obésité, mais aussi pour cerner les compétences des pouvoirs publics en Belgique à même d’agir dans le domaine. Les 68 mesures sont détaillées dans la suite du rapport. Elles peuvent être consultées indépendamment en se servant de la table des matières ci-dessous, ou encore via le tableau synthétique annexé (p.102).

Chile recently implemented a food labeling law that requires packaged foods with sugar, saturated fats, sodium, and/or calorie content that exceeds government-defined thresholds to carry a front-of-package warning for each excessive nutrient. This law does not prohibit the use of nutrient content (NC) marketing claims on packages, as long as the claims do not directly contradict the warnings. Yet, having NC claims alongside nutrient warnings might send mixed messages confusing consumers about the overall healthiness of a product. The present study tests the co-occurrence of warning labels and NC claims in breakfast cereal packages on product perceptions and behavioral intentions of Chilean adults in a 3 (warnings: none, high calorie, high calorie/high sugar) × 3 (NC claims: none, fiber/wholegrain, low fat/cholesterol-free) mixed-measures experiment. Fiber-related claims had a main effect leading to more positive ratings of the product, compared to having no NC claims or fat-related ...

This paper investigates the role of supermarket promotions on consumption of healthy and unhealthy food in Scotland using Kantar Worldpanel data that records weekly purchases at the barcode specific level. This cross-sectional study utilises a dataset of 52,524 purchases in 2015 among 2,800 Scottish households. A UK FSA Nutrient Profiling score was assigned to every product as a measure of healthiness. A fractional multinomial logit model is used to examine the influences of product characteristics on the probability of purchase under promotion. The results show that there are key product characteristics such as weight, brand label, regular price and the type of supermarket that have a significant influence on purchases made under promotion. One novel aspect of the research is that we are able to distinguish separate effects for these influences in price and volume promotions. No clear association has emerged between nutritional quality of the products and the purchases under promotion. Products making nutritional claims have also been investigated but there is as yet no clear evidence suggesting that consumer are more or less likely to purchase these products under promotion. The results of the econometric model give important insights into the factors that affect consumer sensitivity to promotions and imply that while many factors influence consumer purchase decision under promotion, it appears that the health status of the product is not among them. Promoting consumption of healthy food using promotions may nevertheless be effective providing the health status is combined with factors that do influence purchase propensity.

Rainforest World Music Festival (RWMF) is a unique festival, which not only bring together many artists from various continents but also the indigenous musicians from the interiors of the legendary island of Borneo. This festival attracts high volume of international and local visitors in the Sarawak region of East Malaysia. One of the factors visitors looked into during or prior their visit to such festive event will be better food variety extending better food choice. Visitors neophobic attitude is well reported by researchers in relation to travel and tourism studies. Nevertheless, such results are in general, rather based on specific event like RWMF. A study was conducted with the support of Sequential Exploratory Design to analyze the visitor's food choice behavior integrating e-marketing tools or social media usage. In the first phase investigator followed qualitative research with board research questions exploring food choice categories of neophobic travelers, with a sample of 112. The research followed source, method, time and tool based triangulation to analyze the qualitative data. The qualitative phase thus extended a thematic model leaving best of categories related to traveler's food choice behavior. Subsequently in the second phase, the study followed quantitative research methodology with a total sample of 384 travelers. The thematic model which has come out of the qualitative phase was tested empirically with the support of theory of planned behavior incorporating e-marketing tools (social media) as mediator. The research followed PLS SEM to analyze the quantitative data. Data collection and analysis of the two phases have given equal priority and the result of each, well integrated in the discussion. Practical, methodological and theoretical implications were also acknowledged in relation to the RWMF event success.

Since 2015 there has been a surge of academic publications and citations focused on consumer food waste. To introduce a special issue of Appetite focused on the drivers of consumer food waste we perform a transdisciplinary and historical review of the literature through a co-citation network analysis and topic modelling approach. We show that the rapid increase in publications is largely attributable to an urgency caused by the Sustainable Development Goals and climate change. Topic modelling reveals that the dramatic quantitative increase of publications has also produced a variety of evolving themes, and that a metaphorical Cambrian Explosion is occurring after decades of academic inactivity. Network analysis results show that consumer food waste features in thousands of articles and hundreds of journals, but that the citation practices of academics are becoming highly concentrated, as 20% of journals attract over 80% of citations. Finally, by examining the burstiness and transdisciplinary structure of citation networks we show that though the field has historically been dominated by empirical articles, it is now starting to show signs of maturity as a flurry of review papers help to consolidate knowledge.

Recent legislative changes in the European Union have mandated nutrition
labeling for the majority of pre-packaged foods. This research
compared effects of several nutrition labeling formats on consumers’
food choices (i.e., the nutrition table, GDA 100 g/ml, and GDA portion).
We primarily focused on whether nutrition label information was
standardized to a fixed or varying comparison baseline. Fixed baselines
(e.g., 100 g/ml) allow consumers to make direct, relative comparisons
of products, while varying baselines (e.g., portion size) often require
consumers to undertake complex mathematical calculations. Findings
suggest that consumers’ food choices are likely to be healthier when
nutrition label information is presented on a fixed baseline. Gender
was found to moderate these effects such that women made healthier
choices—but only when the nutrition label baseline was fixed. Thus, the
type of comparison baseline is an important characteristic of nutrition
labels for public policymakers, public health officials, and academic
researchers to consider.

EZME A. T. (2016). "Muslim Immigrants' Food Culture and Its Effects on Location Preference," Uluslararası İktisadi ve İdari Persfektifler Kongresi: Yeni Bölgesel Vizyonlar (Congress on International Economic and Administrative Perspectives: New Regional Visions), Süleyman Demirel Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Dergisi (Journal of Suleyman Demirel University Institute of Social Sciences), Sayı: CİEP Özel Sayısı (Special Edition), ISSN NO: 1305-7774, ss: 735- 759.

Abstract A cluster of single nucleotide polymorphisms
(SNPs) in the first intron of the fat mass and obesity related
(FTO) gene were the first common variants discovered to be
associated with body mass index and body fatness. This review
summarises what has been later discovered about the
biology of FTO drawing together information from both human
and animal studies. Subsequent work showed that the ‘at
risk’ alleles of these SNPs are associated with greater food
intake and increased hunger/lowered satiety, but are not associated
with altered resting energy expenditure or low physical
activity in humans. FTO is an FE (II) and 2-oxoglutarate dependent
DNA/RNA methylase. Contrasting the impact of the
SNPs on energy balance in humans, knocking out or reducing
activity of the Fto gene in the mouse resulted in lowered
adiposity, elevated energy expenditure with no impact on food
intake (but the impact on expenditure is disputed). In contrast,
overexpression of the gene in mice led to elevated food intake
and adiposity, with no impact on expenditure. In rodents, the
Fto gene is widely expressed in the brain including hypothalamic
nuclei linked to food intake regulation. Since its activity
is 2-oxoglutarate dependent it could potentially act as a sensor
of citrate acid cycle flux, but this function has been dismissed,
and instead it has been suggested to be much more likely to act
as an amino acid sensor, linking circulating AAs to the mammalian
target of rapamycin complex 1. This may be fundamental
to its role in development but the link to obesity is less
clear. It has been recently suggested that although the obesity
related SNPs reside in the first intron of FTO, they may not
only impact FTO but mediate their obesity effects via nearby
genes (notably RPGRIP1L and IRX3).

In rethinking the role of food substitutes and health supplements in India’s contemporary market culture, this paper will comment upon the commodification of fitness culture which has generated a pervasive need for consumption of these comparatively new kinds of products. It will locate consumer practices around the same in the interrelated flux of fitness, food substitutes and health supplements, and gyming. In doing so, it will evaluate the agency of India’s largely middle class consumer-base, a diverse segment of the demographic which has to negotiate the baffling proliferation of consumer-based organic/zero cholesterol/no trans-fats etc. food products to decide what’s on the table every day. It will conclude with comments on the position of the consumer with reference to medico-nutritional needs being facilitated primarily through compulsive consumption as integral to good health and fitness.

Rizolatti’nin beyinde ayna nöronları keşfinden bu yana, empati ya da eş duyum dediğimiz şeyin nöral temellerini biliyoruz [1-2]. O günden bugüne empatinin beyinsel temelleri ve ayna mekanizmaları konusundaki bilgimiz artıyor. Empatiyi iki boyutta düşünmek mümkün: 1. Duygusal Empati, yani “Karşısındakinin duygularını anlayabilme”, 2.  başkasının bakış açısından bakabilme, yani “Kişinin kendisini karşısındaki kişinin yerine koyarak olaylara onun bakış açısıyla bakması, o kişinin duygularını ve düşüncelerini doğru olarak anlamasıdır.  Ventromedial prefrontal kortekste konuşlanan bu üst düzey empati sistemine de “Zihin Kuramı” adı verilir [3]. Çalışmanın bakış açısı Zihin Kuramı olacaktır çünkü yapılan çalışmanın değişkenlerinden birisi olan empatiyi en bilimsel kanıtlarla işleyen kuramdır.  Beslenme insan hayatının devam ettirilmesi adına önemli bir ihtiyaçtır. Beslenmenin birçok çeşidi vardır. Vegan, pesketaryen, ketojenik, paleo, çiğ beslenme ve vejetaryenlik örnek gösterilebilir.  Bu araştırmaya konu olan beslenme çeşidi vejetaryen beslenmedir. Vejeteryan beslenme çok yaygın olmamakla birlikte günümüzde tercih edilebilmektedir. Vejetaryen beslenmenin altında yatan bağımsız sebepler tek başına veya birlikte olabilir. Genel bir bakış açısıyla vejetaryen beslenmenin temelinde sağlık ve etik motivasyonlar yatmaktadır. Vejetaryen beslenmede araştırdığımız empati bir çok psikolojik ve sosyal kavramı barındırmaktadır. Örneğin: Dini inanç, yeterli beslenmedeki eşitsizlik/açlık durumları, ete karşı tat kaçınması, evrensel ve sosyal bakış açısı vb. durumlardır. Örneğin dini inanç açısından eski Mısır’ın din adamları asla et yemezler, Hindistan’da, Buda da öğrencilerini et yememe konusunda uyarırmış. Taocu ermişler gibi, ilk Hıristiyan ve Yahudiler de vejetaryen beslenirlerdi. Bizim çalışmamızın barındırdığı amaç ise Türkiye’de vejetaryen beslenme fikrinin arkasında yatan evrensel ve sosyal normların insanda uyandırdığı duygudaşlık düşüncesi ve bu düşüncenin nüksettirdiği duygular olacaktır. Dünyada deneyimsel olarak empati düşüncesini uyandıracak bir çok olay ve olgular yaşanmıştır. Bazı insanlar hayvanlara ve çeşitli nesnelere duygu, biliş gibi insan nitelikleri atfetmektedirler. Buna antropomorfizm (insan biçimcilik) denilmektedir [4]. Bazı yazarlara göre hayvanları insansı-insana benzer olarak görmek empati ve hayvanı koruma duygusu uyandırmaktadır. Bu kişiler vejetaryen ve vegan tutumları daha çok desteklemektedirler. Vegan ve/veya vejetaryen tutumların oluşmasında bunlara benzer birçok faktör rol oynamaktadır. Bunların yanı sıra vejetaryenlik kendi içerisinde farklı alanlara ayrılmaktadır . Bunun sebebi ise yine normların farklılığından dolayı veya tat kaçınmasıdır. Lakto vejetaryen, ovo vejetaryen, lakto-ovo vejetaryen vb. gibi bir çok beslenme çeşidi söz konusudur.                            Bu çalışmada vejetaryen beslenmede empatinin payının ne derecede yüksek olduğu açıklığa kavuşturulacaktır. Günümüze kadar hızla artan endüstriyel hayvancılığın ortaya koyduğu sonuçlar, insanlığın diğer canlılarla  bulunduğu olumsuz etkileşimler veya kendi zihninde düşüncelerinin şekillendirmesi empatiye  yol açmıştır. Bu çalışmada hem empatinin rolünün ne olduğu hem de bu rolün ne derece etkili olduğunu incelenecektir.

We address how adding food ingredients (AFIs) to a base packaged food affects consumers’ calorie estimation of the new augmented product.
The four performed experiments and ANOVA analyses demonstrate an underlying psychological mechanism, explained below.
Results show that the healthiness of the added food ingredient (AFI) does not matter if the food base is healthy, and consumers' calorie estimates of the augmented packaged food product are accurate. When, however, the food base is unhealthy, and the AFI is healthy, consumers underestimate the new product calories. This underestimation effect increases further when the healthy ingredients multiply. This underestimation effect endures when these ingredients are presented in visual form, but it becomes smaller when these ingredients are presented in verbal form. A justification mechanism is relevant.
Further research should test across the broader range of the food product matrix. There is a great diversity of AFI presentations and further research may deal with the impact of AFI of these different forms on consumers’ calorie estimation and healthiness perceptions. Research may also test sensory-arousing mechanisms that can help understand how consumer perceive the calories of the augmented food. Adding functional type ingredients and in non-food product categories should also be researched.
Our findings suggest that consumers should be cautious of the judgment bias caused by the presence of an AFI on food packages, and raise their awareness regarding nutrition implications and dietary effects.
From the perspective of food manufacturers, adding healthy AFI to unhealthy base foods although may increase consumers’ purchase intention and bring higher profits, may not be sustainable as a marketing strategy in the long-term and has immediate ethical implications.
Policymakers should introduce voluntary schemes to monitor and restrict the improper presentation of AFIs, aiming to rule out the abuse of healthy AFIs on unhealthy packaged food.
Our work offers three major original and valuable contributions. It explains the effects of AFIs on calorie estimation and consumer healthiness perceptions in a context not studied before, namely packaged food products. Next, it advances the literature on consumer judgment error and heuristics concerning product package attributes. Since adding ingredients is integral to product line extension decisions, our results also clarify how marketing can safeguard firm social responsibility in combating obesity.

In reaction to reports that the consumption of processed meat can cause colorectal cancer, it is anticipated that health interventions will be designed to reduce this potentially harmful behavior. Based on terror management theory and the related terror management health model, this study incorporates the concept of mortality salience into fear appeals in order to reduce positive attitudes and intentions towards consuming processed meat. Additionally, the potential moderating effects of a recommendation component as posited by the extended parallel process model are put to the test in an online experiment using manipulated news reports on processed meat as stimulus material. A 2 (mortality salient fear appeal present / mortality salient fear appeal not present) x 2 (recommendation present / recommendation not present) between-subjects factorial design across 317 participants showed no significant effects for neither reduced attitudes nor intentions towards consuming processed meat. The findings suggest that mortality salient fear appeals might not be effective in influencing the public towards reducing their processed meat consumption. However, the lack of significant results could be contributed to methodological limitations and desensitization to mortality salience and fear appeals.

Celem artykułu jest analiza sposobu definiowania żywności naturalnej przez klientów targów świeżej żywności. Postawione w nim tezy opierają się na piętnastu indywidualnych wywiadach pogłębionych, przeprowadzonych z klientami targów w Krakowie i mniejszych miejscowościach Małopolski. W trakcie analizy zastosowane zostało podejście relacyjne i założenia teorii Aktora Sieci. Perspektywa ta pozwala uchwycić specyfikę społecznej kategorii naturalności jedzenia. Żywność jest tu rozumiana jako wytwór czynników ludzkich i pozaludzkich, socjonatura, efekt koprodukcji. Artykuł rozwija również wątek związany z kryteriami i legitymizacją wyborów konsumpcyjnych w obszarze żywności oraz znaczeniem kompetencji i kapitału społecznego podczas zakupów. Ukazany jest w nim związek kategorii naturalności z kategoriami zaufania, bezpieczeństwa, czystości, brudu i „chemii”. W interpretacji uwzględniony został kontekst społeczno-gospodarczy, między innymi osobiste doświadczenie produkcji żywności czy sceptycyzm wobec marek ekologicznych.