Consumers’ Attitudes towards Differentiated Agricultural Products: The Case of Reduced-Salt Green Table Olives

Abstract

Contemporary healthy food issues and food safety concerns induce consumers to become more interested in a healthier diet such as foods reduced in salt. This study explores consumers’ behaviour, attitude, and expectations for the development of a new reduced-salt table olive product from Chalkidiki, an area of Greek. In this context, the main aim of this paper is to investigate the knowledge and attitudes of consumers about health and nutrition, reduced salt consumption, and consumption of Chalkidiki reduced-salt green table olives. Summary statistics and multivariate analysis were performed to examine consumers’ perceptions. The results of the research highlight a remarkable consumer interest in products with reduced salt content. Furthermore, the majority are willing to purchase such foods which is a possible action that can be taken to reduce salt intake. These outcomes emphasise that producing a new reduced-salt table olive product is promising, as the interest of consumers, industries, and the research community has turned to innovative actions that add nutritional value and meet the consumers’ expectations.