Consumer Food Preferences Research Articles

Perfil e preferências dos consumidores de produtos em feiras livres na cidade de Chapecó (SC)

Introdução: Feiras livres são espaços onde podem ser encontrados produtos orgânicos. A feira contribui na alimentação saudável para a população, uma vez que essas pessoas vão à feira em busca de alimentos de melhor qualidade. As feiras livres são caracterizadas pela presença dos produtores e pela venda de produtos não processados ou minimamente processados, oriundos do campo. Objetivo: descrever o perfil e as preferências alimentares dos consumidores que adquirem produtos em feiras livres na cidade de Chapecó (SC). Métodos: Caracteriza-se como estudo transversal, de caráter descritivo com abordagem quantitativa. Foram abordadas 100 pessoas, maiores de 18 anos, de forma aleatória, que realizaram compras nas feiras da cidade no período entre fevereiro e abril de 2019. A análise do perfil utilizou perguntas relacionadas ao sexo, idade, escolaridade, moradia, renda, composição familiar, abastecimento de água, os motivos que as levam frequentar as feiras, produtos mais consumidos e preferências alimentares. Resultados: Mulheres acima de 45 anos foram as mais frequentes na amostra. O ensino médio completo, moradia própria, renda entre dois a cinco salários mínimos, composição familiar de apenas duas pessoas e água tratada em casa caracterizaram o perfil. Conclusão: Os consumidores de produtos das feiras livres de Chapecó são na maioria mulheres, com mais de 45 anos, com ensino médio completo, moradia própria e que buscam, principalmente, produtos orgânicos, dentre eles, as verduras e alimentos não industrializados. Recomenda-se o estímulo e o incentivo à população e aos agricultores para fomentar o mercado de produtos orgânicos na região.

The role of consumption orientation in consumer food preferences in emerging markets

Global marketers are widely implementing global or local product positioning in an attempt to appeal to consumers in international markets. However, there is no consensus in homogenization versus heterogenization of consumer needs and globalization vs. localization of the marketplace.This paper examines the relationship between consumption orientation and the use of various extrinsic and intrinsic product attributes by consumers in emerging markets. This paper employs a discrete choice experiment to explore the preferences of consumers with glocal, local, and global orientations from six emerging markets using fresh pork as a stimulus.We found that consumer orientation impacts consumer preferences for pork products. Product origin was the most important attribute in the evaluation of products across all countries. Local consumers placed higher importance on origin than glocal and global consumers. Glocal consumers were found to be the biggest segment with their own unique blend of preference for products with various attributes.

Fonksiyonel Gıdalara Yönelik Güvenin Satın Alma İsteği Üzerindeki Etkisi: Genel Sağlık İlgileniminin Düzenleyici Rolü

The functional food market is growing day by day all over the world and especially in Europe. The market in Turkey has not yet been sufficiently developed, stands out as one of the fastest-growing markets in the world. However, when the literature is examined, it is seen that market mechanisms for functional foods are not adequately addressed and understood from the consumer perspective. In this context, this study focuses on the antecedents determining the consumers’ willingness to buy of functional foods in order to provide insight from the consumer perspective. In this context, in order to contribute to the consumer perspective, this study focuses on consumer trust and interest, which are important antecedents determining the functional food preferences of consumers. Within this focus, it is aimed to understand whether trust in functional foods affects the decisions of purchasing these products and whether consumer health interest plays a role in this relationship. The research hypotheses were tested with data collected from 373 consumers by means of a questionnaire created to achieve this aim. According to the findings, it is concluded that there is a positive relationship between consumer trust and willingness to buy functional foods, and consumer health interest has a moderator effect on this relationship. These results provide information that can be benefited especially by food sector players, while contributing to marketing literature in the context of understanding consumer-based antecedents of functional food consumption.

Fuzzy approach for predicting combined effect of variables affecting consumer food preferences

Predicting the behaviour of consumers is always a challenge for marketers. Consumers are moved by various factors to make choices of food. This paper provides a framework for predicting consumer food preferences using fuzzy approach which considers uncertainties in predicting the combined effect of factors which affect the consumer food preferences. Advantage of using a fuzzy approach is its power to interpret the semantics of human assessment. In predicting the effect of variables affecting consumer food preferences, three variables which have significant impact were identified, confirming our literature review. A FIS model is tested on the factors which affect the consumer's food preferences and the results are discussed. Among the factors, the consumer's attitude is found to have a major impact in determining the food preferences, and using the fuzzy approach gives an understanding on the intensity of the role of these variables in predicting the consumer food preferences. The results are useful for businesses which design products based on consumer food preferences.

Fuzzy approach for predicting combined effect of variables affecting consumer food preferences

Fuzzy approach for predicting combined effect of variables affecting consumer food preferences

DIRECTIONS OF FUNCTIONAL FOOD MARKET DEVELOPMENT IN LIGHT OF NEW CONSUMER TRENDS

The main aim of the article is to present the directions of functional food market development in Poland and in the world against the background of changing patterns of consumer behaviour. The presentation of the concept and functions performed by this product category shall be the starting point. Consumer trends developed over the last decade are presented, with particular attention paid to changes in food consumer preferences and the role of marketing activities in this process. The last part of the study refers to the trends in the development of functional food in Poland compared to the world market.

Genome-Wide Association Analysis Dissects the Genetic Basis of the Grain Carbon and Nitrogen Contents in Milled Rice

BackgroundCarbon (C) and nitrogen (N) are two fundamental components of starch and protein, which are important determinants of grain yield and quality. The food preferences of consumers and the expected end-use of grains in different rice-growing regions require diverse varieties that differ in terms of the grain N content (GNC) and grain C content (GCC) of milled rice. Thus, it is important that quantitative trait loci (QTLs)/genes with large effects on the variation of GNC and GCC are identified in breeding programs.ResultsTo dissect the genetic basis of the variation of GNC and GCC in rice, the Dumas combustion method was used to analyze 751 diverse accessions regarding the GNC, GCC, and C/N ratio of the milled grains. The GCC and GNC differed significantly among the rice subgroups, especially between Xian/Indica (XI) and Geng/Japonica (GJ). Interestingly, in the GJ subgroup, the GNC was significantly lower in modern varieties (MV) than in landraces (LAN). In the XI subgroup, the GCC was significantly higher in MV than in LAN. One, six, and nine QTLs, with 55 suggestively associated single nucleotide polymorphisms, were detected for the GNC, GCC, and C/N ratio in three panels during a single-locus genome-wide association study (GWAS). Three of these QTLs were also identified in a multi-locus GWAS. We screened 113 candidate genes in the 16 QTLs in gene-based haplotype analyses. Among these candidate genes, LOC_Os01g06240 at qNC-1.1, LOC_Os05g33300 at qCC-5.1, LOC_Os01g04360 at qCN-1.1, and LOC_Os05g43880 at qCN-5.2 may partially explain the significant differences between the LAN and MV. These candidate genes should be cloned and may be useful for molecular breeding to rapidly improve the GNC, GCC, and C/N ratio of rice.ConclusionsOur findings represent valuable information regarding the genetic basis of the GNC and GCC and may be relevant for enhancing the application of favorable haplotypes of candidate genes for the molecular breeding of new rice varieties with specific grain N and C contents.

Технология получения белкового концентрата овса посевного с высокими физико-химическими и функционально-технологическими характеристиками

The current intensive industrialization has changed the food preferences of consumers. As a result, there is a growing demand for high-grade high-nutritional meat and dairy products, which, in its turn, triggered an increase in the demand for grain crops and led to higher animal feed prices. All these affected the price and quality of the finished product, since farms are trying to stay profitable. As a consequence, the high cost of animal proteins make producers look for other sources of protein with similar qualities. Common oat (Avena sativa L.) remains the most cultivated species. Oats are a source of high-quality protein with an optimal amino acid balance. The paper features a oat protein technology (Avena sativa). The research defined the parameters of the protein extraction process. For acid and alkaline methods, the following optimum parameters were revealed: temperature – 40 ± 2°C, hydraulic module – 1:10, time – 90 minutes, active acidity of the acid extraction – 2.0 units, active acidity of alkaline extraction
 – 9.0 units. The authors managed to obtain protein substances with the molecular weight > 50 kDa. The optimal parameters of ultrafiltration of the protein extract were as follows: pore diameter = 100 kDa at pH 8.0 and 0.5 MPa. The ultrafiltration conducted under these conditions showed that the content of high molecular fractions (globulins and albumins) increased from 39.12% to 55.15% for the extract obtained by alkaline method, whereas the content of low molecular weight fractions (prolamins and glutelins) decreased from 60.88% to 44.85%. Ultrafiltration of protein extracts obtained by alkaline and acidic methods made it possible to concentrate protein fractions with a molecular weight ≥ 50 kDa. When a 10% aqueous solution of succinic acid was used as a precipitator, the protein precipitation degree equaled 89.3%. The paper introduces a new oat protein purification method. The optimal multiplicity of purification by RP-HPLC was 4 purification cycles. For the alkaline extract, the total content of high molecular weight fractions (50.0–120.0 kDa) was 72.7% and the total content of low molecular weight fractions (15.0–49.0 kDa) was 27.3%. For the acid extract, the total content of high molecular weight fractions was 72.9%, while the content of low molecular weight fractions was 27.1%. Oat proteins obtained by alkaline and acid extraction demonstrated a high foaming ability (148–177%) at pH = 6.0–9.0, as well as a good fat and water retention capacity. The oat proteins were found to have a high content of protein and essential amino acids similar to animal proteins. A comparative analysis showed that oat protein can act as an alternative substitute for animal proteins.

Examining prospective buyer attitudes toward four food product traits

PurposeSocio-demographic control variables are added to food attitude analyses to improve the understanding of consumer preferences. However, socio-demographics can provide an incomplete picture of prospective buyers. Including other variables in a food analysis may offer businesses, researchers and policymakers more insights into consumer food preferences. The paper aims to discuss these issues.Design/methodology/approachAn internet survey of 725 adults in the USA was used to examine interest in four food traits that may be included in marketing claims: antibiotic-free meat, Humanely-raised meat, produce that could be traced back to the farm and gluten-free food. Besides standard socio-demographics, environmental preferences, impulsive buying, religiosity, spirituality, privacy concerns and social desirability bias (SDB) measures were used to predict buyer interest.FindingsSome standard socio-demographics (e.g. gender, age and income), green attitudes, impulsive traits and concern for information privacy were associated with preferences for three of the food attributes. These linkages can help define useful segments. The results for the fourth food trait, gluten-free, should generate additional medical research. In addition, the SDB measure was significant, suggesting that social norms may favour these traits.Originality/valueThe four food traits studied in this research appear to be growing in the market and have had limited attention in prior research. Many of the independent variables (e.g. green attitudes, impulsive traits, privacy concerns) included in the models provided more information about consumer preferences and may be helpful in other food studies. The findings on gluten-free products should receive further study.

A Belief‐Preference Model of Choice for Experience and Credence Goods

AbstractWe develop a methodology addressing the issue of confounded beliefs and preferences in models of discrete choice. First, we formalise the theoretical framework and logical underpinnings of a belief‐preference model of choice for experience and credence goods, where subjective beliefs relate to uncertain product quality. We then present the experimental procedure within the context of an online choice experiment studying consumer food preferences. The empirical strategy leverages information from a quality sorting task to identify and estimate beliefs, while choice data are used to recover preferences. By conditioning product choices on predicted quality perceptions, the issue of endogenous beliefs is resolved.

Factors Affecting Food and Beverage Preferences of Young Consumers and A Research in Gaziantep Center

İnsanlar tüketim davranışlarını yönlendiren bir takım değer ve kriterler söz konusudur. Bu değer ve kriterler genel anlamda olduğu gibi yiyecek ve içeceklerin tercihinde de geçerli olmaktadır. Bu araştırmada genç tüketicilerin yiyecek ve içecekleri tercih ederken referans aldıkları kriterler belirlenmiş, söz konusu kriterlerin yoğun yaşam temposu içinde yiyecek ve içecek tüketimi açısından önemli bir yer tutan fast food işletmelerine yönelik tüketici davranışı arasındaki ilişki ortaya konulmaya çalışılmıştır. Bu amaçla oluşturulan anket 394 genç tüketici üzerinde uygulanmıştır. Bu araştırma sonucunda genç tüketicilerin yiyecek ve içecekleri tercih ederken faydacı değerleri benimsedikleri fast food işletmelerine güvendikleri ancak söz konusu işletmelere yönelik bağlılıklarının düşük olduğu tespit edilmiştir. Bununla beraber araştırmada faydacılık değeri artarken yiyecek içecek memnuniyetinin de arttığı belirlenmiştir. Araştırma bulgularına göre dikkat çeken bir diğer sonuç ise UNESCO Kültür mirası listesinin gastronomi kategorisinde yer alan Gaziantep’te yaşayan genç tüketicilerin yiyecek ve içecek tercihinde sosyo-kültürel değerleri daha az benimsemiş olmalarıdır.

Factors Affecting Consumer Food Preferences: Food Taste and Depression-Based Evoked Emotional Expressions with the Use of Face Reading Technology.

In this study, several factors (social status, age, gender, education, knowledge about healthy eating, and attitude to food) affecting consumer food choices (FC), including the relationship between the taste of food, FC, and depression, were analysed by using sensory traits and face reading technology. The first stage of the experimental scheme was the analysis of factors affecting consumer food preferences by using a questionnaire, while the second stage was evaluation of emotional expressions evoked by different food tastes in individuals with and without depressive disorders (DD), using the FaceReader 6 software. We show that gender is a significant factor for most emotional motivations, with a higher effect in females where there was an indication of increased cravings for sweets when feeling depressed. Age was a significant factor in the motivation to eat for positive feelings, while education had a significant influence on perceptions regarding healthy eating. Face reading technology was found to be sufficiently accurate to detect differences in facial expressions induced by different tastes of food, for groups with and without DD. In conclusion, many factors are of high importance in the analysis of food choices, and the results obtained using the FaceReader 6 technique are very promising for food-mood relation analysis. We suggest that mood has a strong link with the choice of food.

Seasonal dynamics of the epibiont food web on Unio tumidus (Philipsson, 1788) in a eutrophic reservoir

Bivalves represent one of the most important components of freshwater zoobenthos, and their shells provide a substrate for many organisms to create epibiotic communities of predominantly facultative nature. Thus far, information regarding colonization of Unio tumidus by microorganism assemblages has been almost absent. Moreover, data on the functioning of trophic networks created by epibionts are also unavailable. Therefore, the present study aimed to examine the assemblage of epibiotic microorganisms inhabiting live and dead bivalves with regard to the physicochemical properties of the habitat and determine whether stable isotope levels in primary producers and consumers colonizing bivalve shells exhibit significant seasonal variability. The substrate characteristic and physicochemical properties of water – primarily biogenic compounds and total organic carbon clearly modified the taxonomic composition of microorganisms and the function of the trophic network. This was reflected by the increased diversity of microorganisms (phycoflora, ciliates and rotifers) on live bivalves and the increase in their abundance on dead bivalves. The level of stable isotopes exhibited clear seasonal variability in individual components of the epibiotic trophic network, whereas food preferences of the potential consumers (protozoans and rotifers) depended significantly on the availability and abundance of food.

Effects of urbanization on food demand in China

Urbanization in China has been on a steady rise recently, which has contributed to the changing consumer food preferences and consumption patterns. This carries significant implications for food security in China and the global food trade, given the role China plays on global food markets. This study investigates the effects of urbanization on food demand in China by adopting an empirical framework that incorporates urbanization into a theory plausible demand system. It also considers the effects of urbanization-induced loss of agricultural land and increased pollution on food production resource quality and food supply. Modeling the demand and supply components simultaneously allows us to undertake equilibrium analysis to determine prices. Based on the urbanization elasticities derived and estimated in this study, our findings indicate that urbanization has increased demand for meats, fruit, and eggs, while reducing demand for grains, vegetables, and fats and oils.

Do consumers care how a genetically engineered food was created or who created it?

This paper explores heterogeneity in consumer preferences for foods and policies that relate to different innovative plant breeding technologies. As a starting point in our analysis, we report results from almost four years of monthly surveys with U.S. consumers, which show slight food safety concern for genetically engineered food with no discernable trend of increased or decreased concern over time. We find small differences in consumer preferences for policies related to different plant breeding methods, with the strongest support for the notion that bioengineered crops should be regulated based on health and environmental outcomes rather than the process used to create new crops. Other survey results reveal support or opposition for genetically engineered food depends on consumers’ perceptions of who created the technology. We also find that food safety concerns related to genetically engineered food are related to perceptions about the distribution of benefits from the technology across the food supply chain.

Changes in Consumer Food Preferences in EU Countries from 2001-2013

This paper attempts to rank EU countries according to changes in consumer food preferences between 2001 and 2013. The size of these changes was determined using a synthetic rate created for this purpose. This rate was intended to accommodate changes in consumption levels in 9 product groups per capita. It turns out that we may use the greatest possible measure of the structure’s dissimilarity as an analogy to the Gini coefficient, to express this rate. Using the “ar” measure to compare structures of food consumption in two separate three-year time periods for each country, scientists may rank and group the countries according to the value of changes in consumer food preferences.

Framework for analyzing the effects of packaging on food loss reduction by considering consumer behavior

In this study, we developed a framework to analyze the effects of highly functionalized packaging on food loss reduction by considering consumer behavior. The framework consists of two analyses. The first is a trade-off analysis to identify the balance between increased impacts caused by highly functionalized packaging and reduced impacts associated with food loss reduction. A novel indicator, the break-even rate of food loss, is defined to quantify the minimum food loss reduction required to recover the life cycle environmental impacts associated with the production of highly functionalized packaging. The second is a consumer behavior scenario analysis to evaluate variations in environmental impacts caused by the lifestyle and food consumption preferences of consumers. To verify the effectiveness of the framework, we conducted a case study of ham products marketed in Japan. In this case, two high functionalizations were selected to be reducing the product content volume and extending the product expiration date, compared with those of conventional packaging. The result indicated that high functionalization reduced food losses for some scenarios where people consume small quantities and discard food after the expiration date. Life cycle environmental impacts decreased as a result of food loss reduction except for the scenario where the food loss reduction was less than the calculated break-even rate of food loss. Thus, the framework can evaluate the effects of packaging on the food losses and environmental impacts for different consumer behaviors. The case study demonstrated the effectiveness of the framework to support the design and planning of food packaging for the reduction of environmental impacts and food losses.

Accommodating New Age: Understanding the needs of a growing segment

Abstract The New Age phenomenon is an under-examined research topic in tourism and hospitality. According to a 2005 Gallup survey, around three out of four Americans believe in paranormal phenomena, which are closely aligned to New Age beliefs, and indicates a unique and potentially untapped market segment. Previous research has examined the views of New Age products and services providers, but perhaps because of the heterogeneity of the New Age phenomenon, little has been done to determine New Age consumers’ needs. This study therefore explores the accommodation, food and leisure services preferences of New Age consumers, to identify potential products and services to meet their needs and conceptualize New Agers as an important market segment of future tourism.

SUN-P220: Functional Food Preferences of Turkish Consumers According to Food Value Scale

SUN-P220: Functional Food Preferences of Turkish Consumers According to Food Value Scale

Estimates of the willingness to pay for locally grown tree fruits in Cusco, Peru

AbstractUrbanization, changes in the retail sector and economic growth in developing countries may offer new opportunities to build connections between urban consumers and nearby farmers. The design of strategies to build such connections will require deeper insights into the food preferences of urban consumers. This paper presents a choice experiment of the preference of locally grown apples, avocados and pears vis-à-vis nonlocal equivalents with 300 consumers in a traditional market in Cusco, Peru. Willingness-to-pay estimates are derived from a multinomal logit analysis. We found that consumers who are younger and more educated and those with young children tend to be willing to pay more for locally produced apples, avocados and pears. The paper concludes with a discussion on the implications of the research for advancing efforts to localize food systems in developing countries and opportunities for future research.