Abstract
Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is a transmissible illness that was recognized in December 2019 and World Health Organization (WHO) stated a pandemic on 11 March 2020. As no cure has been developed for COVID-19 disease yet, Italy has adopted restrictive measures to avoid the spread of the virus, causing different psychological reactions (e.g., stress, anxiety) that lead people to change lifestyle and in particular the consumer orientation toward food. In addition, the COVID-19 emergency had also affected the Italian economy, causing an 11.3% decrease in GDP (gross domestic product). All these changes gave rise to a sense of instability, but it is known that new possibilities may arise in these situations. In particular, the pandemic could be the turning point to make consumers aware of the close link between human health and the ecosystems, supporting the “One Health” perspective and enhancing the orientation to consumer sustainable food products. However, little is known about how the psychological reactions to COVID-19 emergency have affected the consumers' intention to purchase sustainable food products. In order to answer these questions, a representative sample of 1,004 Italian citizens, extracted by stratified sampling, answered an online survey between May the 12th and 18th 2020. The data were analyzed using ANOVA and contingency tables. The results show that during phase one of COVID-19 disease about 30% of the sample reported that have frequently (often and always) consumed the certified sustainable food products and about 20% of the sample have intention to increase the consumption of them in the next 6 months, percentages that increase among those who feel more vulnerable regarding the risk contagion. Moreover, the psychological impact of the COVID-19 emergency has led to a change in consumers' attitudes, increasing the interest in animal and environmental issues and in human health. These aspects seem to drive the future intention of purchasing sustainable food products. This research highlights how the psychological reactions to the health emergency have changed the consumers' attitudes toward sustainability issues, leading them to follow a more sustainable diet that is recognized as a way to preserve human health, environmental preservation, and animal welfare for present and future generations.
Highlights
In January 2020, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARSCoV-2) started to spread in Italy and profoundly changed people’s habits
Many studies that dealt with the topic of sustainable food consumption in “One Health” perspective have shown that the importance given to environmental issues, animal welfare, human health and to the individual responsibility in society are the main aspects in influencing the sustainable food consumption and the implementation of sustainable diet [16, 17]
This study highlighted how the sanitary emergency caused by COVID-19 disease is raising Italians’ attention toward the issue of food consumption sustainability, who are re-evaluating the importance of respecting the environmental, animal welfare, human health and who are reappraising the role of individuals’ responsibility in society
Summary
In January 2020, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARSCoV-2) started to spread in Italy and profoundly changed people’s habits. As no cure or vaccine has been developed for COVID-19 disease yet, since March 8th the Italian government have adopted restrictive measures to avoid the spread of the virus and the consequent worsening of the health emergency These measures to prevent and control the spread of COVID-19 disease affected the global economic system, causing a drop in the Italian GDP [1], but they had a profound psychological impact on people, resulting in an increase of stress, depression, anxiety and frustration [2]. Most people declared that nothing of the foods purchased were discarded, setting up a strategy of saving, storing, and eating leftovers This first study seems to confirm the thinking of some scholars who argued that this pandemic could be a window of opportunity for recognizing the importance of sustainability issues and in particular the close link between human health and the ecosystems [9,10,11,12], supporting the “One Health” perspective. Research conducted in Italy has suggested that to solve the current pandemic and to prevent the future ones is not enough to carry out studies in the field of medicine, immunology and microbiology, but it is necessary to implement a preventive strategy for sustainable development [10, 11] that supports a higher level of clean production in order to reduce the exploitation of the environment and, as result, the factors that cause the spread of COVID-19 disease and other infections in society [20]
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