Abstract
A new food safety level of trust in food risk perception has been noticed, as a consequence of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. The pandemic made-up to review nutritional recommendations for the population, mainly for the young population. Here, the results of a designed survey for the young population, from the University of Valencia, Spain, belonging to grades in the health branch of knowledge, and in charge of carrying out the shopping task for their household, are reported. The study reports three different scenarios and years, as defined by the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic: before the pandemic (period January–December 2019), during the pandemic lockdown (period March 2020–August 2020), and after the pandemic lockdown (September 2020–June 2021). The survey was designed with questions, profiling responses using the best–worst elicitation (BWE) format. Results reported that trust and evaluation of information differed in all three scenarios. In the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, there was (i) a high increase in trust in the information provided inside (by) the shopping place, while there were no changes for the outside (kept in medium score); (ii) trust in cooperative stakeholders went from a medium-low to medium-high score, while, for individual stakeholders, it was maintained as a medium score, and (iii) trust in information on food products was kept in high score. Regarding the evaluation of the information provided by stakeholders, a tendency in medium score was maintained, while that from the channels of distribution went from medium-low to medium-high for buying on-site. A uniform tendency was observed for online/other distribution channels for all three years and descriptors studied: “Internet”, “Farmer on-demand”, and “Cooperative consumers” (<50%). This research provides findings of implications that contribute to changing the perception of food risk, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, i.e., the adaptation of the young population, trust in safety and quality, and importance of coordination from all communication points to avoid negative or strongest consequences, in case of future lockdowns or health crisis.
Highlights
A new food safety level of trust in food risk perception has been noticed, as a consequence of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic
In the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, there was (i) a high increase in trust in the information provided inside the shopping place, while there were no changes for the outside; (ii) trust in cooperative stakeholders went from a medium-low to medium-high score, while, for individual stakeholders, it was maintained as a medium score, and (iii) trust in information on food products was kept in high score
Two points can be considered of great importance in food safety: (i) trust in food products and (ii) the levels of communications, which vary depending on the country or cultural contexts
Summary
A new food safety level of trust in food risk perception has been noticed, as a consequence of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. This research provides findings of implications that contribute to changing the perception of food risk, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, i.e., the adaptation of the young population, trust in safety and quality, and importance of coordination from all communication points to avoid negative or strongest consequences, in case of future lockdowns or health crisis. The concept of food safety seems to be completed, when there is no food risk or perceived, while the evaluation of risk perception implies the trust in purchasing a product and behavior [1,2] In this sense, two points can be considered of great importance in food safety: (i) trust in food products and (ii) the levels of communications, which vary depending on the country or cultural contexts. There are plenty of stages, indirectly implicit in the acquisition, for consumers to choose and consume a food product, which makes it necessary to give a wider trust in food, for the population, that guarantees food safety
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