Consumers’ Perception on Traceability of Greek Traditional Foods in the Post-COVID-19 Era

Dimitris Skalkos,Eleni Chasioti,Thomas Bintsis,Haralabos C Karantonis,Ioanna S Kosma

doi:10.3390/su132212687

Dimitris Skalkos, Eleni Chasioti + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/su132212687

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Abstract

In the rising new global economic and social period, after the COVID-19 pandemic, traceability is expected to be a critical parameter for the selection of foods by consumers worldwide. Accordingly, traditional foods (TFs) can become the foods of choice in the new era due to their originality, authenticity, unique organoleptic properties, and locality. In this paper, the consumers’ perception on traceability regarding Greek TFs and northwest Greek TFs is investigated, in order to find out the specific information they require for the purchase of these foods. Traceability was tested using variables related to package, product, quality, process, and personal information of these foods. A self-response questionnaire survey was carried out in September and October 2021 on a sample of 1707 participants through the Google platform. The results show that the participants consider traceability regarding questions on package information “quite important” and “very important” by an average of 68%, on food information by 64%, on quality information by 69%, on production process information by 78%, and on personal information by 65%. A similar pattern was recorded for the regional northwest Greek TFs for information on production process, personal, and package data, although there was a significant increase in the perception by the participants for data related to food information itself by 87% and more related to quality information by 94%.

Highlights

Reports show that the economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has a major impact on the global economy and significant changes will occur in the long run [1]
We have shown the importance of the traceability of foods in the post-COVID-19 period and the potential of the traditional foods (TFs) as the food of choice for the consumers of this new period, namely the anticonsumers
The second part consisted of four questions designed to assess the perception on the package information of the TFs, namely the nutritional and energy value, the production and expiration date, and the additional information which the participants would like to find in order to purchase them in the post COVID era

Summary

Introduction

Reports show that the economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has a major impact on the global economy and significant changes will occur in the long run [1]. There are signs of a growing anticonsumer movement, distinguished by Philip Kottler, of at least five types of anticonsumers [2]: the degrowth activists who feel that too much time and effort are going into consuming; the life simplifiers who want to eat less and buy less; the climate activists who worry about the damage to the planet through consumption; the food chooser who have turned into vegetarians and vegans; and the conservation activists who plead not to destroy existing goods but to reuse, repair, and redecorate them These changes in the global dietary patterns introduce changes in the food production and supply processes as well.

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