Food Consumption Habits of Hungarian Organic Food Consumers and Their Policy Implications

Abstract

Food production and consumption have a major impact on the environment and human health. Therefore, it is important to achieve transformations towards greater sustainability in the food sector. As in other countries around the world, Hungarian organic food consumers are characterised by the fact that they consume organic food primarily for health reasons. Direct forms, including online purchase, are preferred in the choice of channels since direct contact with producers is very important due to mistrust, which is one of the barriers to the further growth of consumption. Empirical tests of well-known and frequently applied theories also shed light on the connections above. First, an examination was conducted through logistic regression to determine if there exists a correlation between organic food consumption and environmentally and socially conscious consumption traits (such as supporting small-scale producers) within the broader sample (1148), encompassing not just organic food consumers. Subsequently, concentrating solely on organic food consumers (944), factor analysis was employed to reveal connections among the analysed variables and to group Hungarian organic food consumers into clusters based on their consumption and purchasing habits. In conclusion, it is reasonable to assume that organic food consumers are more likely to be environmentally conscious, as they are more aware of the environmental impact of their food choices. Three clearly distinguishable groups were obtained using cluster analysis. These groups can be targeted with different means in order to develop the sector.