Abstract
This study sought to uncover how consumers’ first associations and attitudes are influenced by involvement in food waste reduction and if this can be explained by consumer personality characteristics. This study investigated consumer attitudes towards products in three categories: (i) processed food, (ii) nutrition supplements and (iii) cosmetics. Products were presented to consumers in the UK as containing by-product ingredients (control) vs possessing either a health or an environmental benefit (experimental conditions). The findings indicate that consumers in general responded positively to the product when told that it contributes to food waste reduction or improved public health via use of the entire raw material, such as whole shrimp, crab or mussel, except in the case of cosmetics. Consumers with a high involvement in food waste reduction tended to be more sceptical in the control group than those who were given product definitions that included benefits. By applying hybrid methods, this study showed that consumers could respond positively towards products containing seafood by-products accompanied by information about environmental or health benefits. There is great potential for consumer education about empowered choices of food and nutrition supplements that are environmentally friendly at the ingredient level.
Highlights
In agriculture production the common strategy has been to increase production and correct environmental impacts later
The results of this study showed that high involvement with food waste led to less positive attitude scores in the control condition, despite the expected effect of perceived urgency to act towards protecting the environment (Brown and Stone, 2007)
The second main conclusion is that information about improved public health and reduced food waste has a positive effect on these attitudes
Summary
In agriculture production the common strategy has been to increase production and correct environmental impacts later. Far, this strategy has failed (Tseng et al, 2013). With the increasing global population, food production must rely on the total use of all resources, so minimising food surplus waste and ensuring sustainable use of resources is crucial at both the industrial and household levels (Papargyropoulou et al, 2014; Williams et al, 2012). The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO, 2014) of the United Nations (UN) reported that in the food industry, the physical impacts of production were the greatest for meat, milk, grains and vegetables. The highest figures were related to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, waste quantity and land occupation, and lower values were attributed to such activities as water use
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