Food processing and perceived naturalness: Is it more natural or just more traditional?

Abstract

Food processing influences perceptions of its naturalness. However, previously advanced theses on the effect of processing do not adequately explain consumers’ perceptions e.g., for irradiated food. Further, while production type (organic versus conventional production), and scale (large versus small scale) also influence this attribute, it is not clear whether their effects of are additive or whether an interaction can be expected. This work examined these questions in two studies. The results suggest first that product naturalness depends more on whether the processing technique is deemed traditional (old) or new, and not on whether processing produced chemical or physical transformations. Second, produce type and production scale have largely additive effects and consumers do not necessarily conflate these two attributes. The results also showed that organic production had a greater effect on perceived naturalness when food was produced at a small-scale than at large scale. The implications of these findings and ways through which they can help to address perceived naturalness of industrially processed foods are discussed.