Abstract
This study aims to contribute to the existing literature by verifying whether the degree of liking of a new food product influences people’s preferences and willingness to pay from a discrete choice experiment when dealing with sustainable food products. To this purpose, we considered the case study of the introduction into the Italian market of a new food product: tinned Chianina meat. Among the attributes considered for this new product, two in particular were related to sustainability: organic breeding and the preservation of a traditional rural landscape. Half of the respondents underwent a sensory test before taking part in the hypothetical market (discrete choice experiment), while the remaining were administered the tests in reverse order. Tasting the product before the discrete choice experiment did not produce different willingness to pay (WTP) parameters as estimated by a taste factor interaction. However, separating the respondents into those who liked or disliked the product in the tasting condition revealed differences in willingness to pay results. The preferences are different for more than 50% of the attributes considered, and the magnitude of this difference is quite relevant. The WTP for one well known and certified sustainability related attribute—organic breeding—was not affected by the liking, while, for the other—the preservation of a traditional rural landscape—the effect of liking decreases the WTP. As a consequence, we suggest that tasting and liking studies should be routinely coupled with discrete choice studies when analyzing the introduction of new food products, especially when considering sustainable attributes in the experimental design. In the case of organic products where the expectations about taste are higher, neglecting to consider their sensory perception, along with the other discrete choice experiment attributes, could seriously undermine their long lasting success on the market.
Highlights
Meat is part of the diet of most of the world population and its demand is supposed to grow by 68% from 2000 to 2030 [1] (18% in developed countries from 2002 to 2030)
Of the people that did not appreciate the Chianina tinned meat very much (LowL interaction term) is not statistically different from that of the interviewees that did not taste the meat before undertaking the discrete choice experiments (DCEs) experiment
Many past studies highlighted the presence of a gap between consumers’ intentions and behaviour. This is particular evident in the case of ethical consumerism where a wide difference exists between what people say and how people act [93,94]. The presence of such a discrepancy may induce the producers to overestimate the importance of some ethical attributes when deciding the most appropriate marketing strategies and, most importantly, this tendency could have a negative impact on the diffusion of environmental friendly production systems especially in the case of new food product (NFP)
Summary
Meat is part of the diet of most of the world population and its demand is supposed to grow by 68% from 2000 to 2030 [1] (18% in developed countries from 2002 to 2030). 276) is found in the possibility of a demand-driven change thanks to consumers’ power to foster a more sustainable production with healthier diets, and “the development of markets for organic products and other forms of eco-labelling”. In a complex scenario like that of meat demand [3,4,5], our study aims to understand the relative importance of some of the sustainable attributes suggested by the FAO report to foster a consumer driven [6,7] “sustainable” meat production in the Italian market. In our specific case study, we considered a new food product (NFP), tinned Chianina meat, characterised by two attributes that can be related to the FAO’s report suggestions: organic production and the maintenance of the traditional landscape. The Chianina meat is produced using breeding techniques that have less environmental impact (extensive breeding) and can improve biodiversity by rearing local breeds of cattle
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