Determinants of consumer intention to purchase animal-friendly milk.

Concern about the welfare of production animals is growing among various stakeholders, including the general public. Citizens can influence the market for premium welfare products by expressing public concerns, and consumers-the actors who actually purchase products-can do so through their purchasing behavior. However, current market shares for premium welfare products are small in Europe. To better align purchase behavior with public and individuals' concerns, insight is needed into determinants that influence the intention to purchase premium welfare products. A cross-sectional online survey of 787 Flemish milk consumers was conducted to investigate attitudes toward and intention to purchase animal-friendly milk. More than half of the sample (52.5%) expressed the intention to purchase animal-friendly milk. Linear regression modeling indicated that intention was positively influenced by (1) higher perceived product benefits from animal-friendly milk (milk with more health benefits and higher quality); (2) higher personal importance of extrinsic product attributes such as local production and country of origin; (3) higher personal importance of animal welfare; (4) a more natural living oriented attitude toward cows; and (5) a more positive general attitude toward milk. Intention was negatively influenced by (1) a stronger business-oriented attitude toward cows; and (2) by a higher personal importance attached to price. These insights in key components of purchase intention can assist producers, the dairy industry, and retailers to position and market animal-friendly milk.

Stakeholder attitudes towards cumulative and aggregate exposure assessment of pesticides.

This study evaluates the attitudes and perspectives of different stakeholder groups (agricultural producers, pesticide manufacturers, trading companies, retailers, regulators, food safety authorities, scientists and NGOs) towards the concepts of cumulative and aggregate exposure assessment of pesticides by means of qualitative in-depth interviews (n = 15) and a quantitative stakeholder survey (n = 65). The stakeholders involved generally agreed that the use of chemical pesticides is needed, primarily for meeting the need of feeding the growing world population, while clearly acknowledging the problematic nature of human exposure to pesticide residues. Current monitoring was generally perceived to be adequate, but the timeliness and consistency of monitoring practices across countries were questioned. The concept of cumulative exposure assessment was better understood by stakeholders than the concept of aggregate exposure assessment. Identified pitfalls were data availability, data limitations, sources and ways of dealing with uncertainties, as well as information and training needs. Regulators and food safety authorities were perceived as the stakeholder groups for whom cumulative and aggregate pesticide exposure assessment methods and tools would be most useful and acceptable. Insights obtained from this exploratory study have been integrated in the development of targeted and stakeholder-tailored dissemination and training programmes that were implemented within the EU-FP7 project ACROPOLIS.

Flemish consumer attitudes towards more sustainable food choices.

Intensive agricultural practices and current western consumption patterns are associated with increased ecological pressure. One way to reduce the ecological impact could be a shift to more sustainable food choices. This study investigates consumer opinions towards a series of food choices with a lower ecological impact. The investigated food choices range from well-known meat substitutes to alternatives which are more radical or innovative and that require an adaptation of food habits and cultural patterns. Results are obtained through a survey among 221 Flemish respondents in Spring 2011. Many consumers underestimate the ecological impact of animal production. Well-known alternatives such as organic meat, moderation of meat consumption and sustainable fish are accepted, although willingness to pay is clearly lower than willingness to consume. Consumers are more reluctant to alternatives that (partly) ban or replace meat in the meal. Opportunities of introducing insects currently appear to be non-existent. Five consumer segments were identified based on self-evaluated ecological footprint and personal relevance of the ecological footprint. The segments were termed Conscious, Active, Unwilling, Ignorant and Uncertain. A profile in terms of demographics, attitudinal and behavioral characteristics is developed for each segments, and conclusions with respect to opportunities for sustainable food choices are discussed.

Pig producer attitude towards surgical castration of piglets without anaesthesia versus alternative strategies.

A group of 160 Flemish pig farmers (n=160) were surveyed about their attitude towards surgical castration with anaesthesia (SCA) and without (SCN), immunocastration (IC), sperm sexing (SS) and the production of entire males (EM). The farmers' general preference was recorded as SCN>SS>SCA=IC>EM. The farmers' self-reported knowledge of the strategies was associated with their preference for SCA (negatively) and SS (positively). Herd size was correlated with farmers' preference for SCA (negatively) and SS (positively). Farmers perceived surgical castration without anaesthesia as the most favourable strategy in terms of farm profitability, animal performance and effectiveness against boar taint, but they expected the lowest consumer acceptance for this strategy. Surgical castration with anaesthesia was ranked the least favourable in terms of labour conditions. Production of entire males was viewed as the least profitable and the least effective strategy. Sperm sexing was positively perceived, particularly in terms of labour conditions, animal welfare, effectiveness and expected consumer acceptance. The farmers' opinion was quite homogeneous, especially regarding surgical castration without anaesthesia and production of entire males. Increasing our understanding of the farmers' perceptions will hopefully facilitate communication about this intricate issue.

Effect of information provisioning on attitude toward surgical castration of male piglets and alternative strategies for avoiding boar taint.

Pork consumers know little about boar taint and the methods used to avoid it. As such, relevant information is necessary to assist consumers to judge the acceptability of different strategies to avoid boar taint. The effect of basic (T1) or extensive (T2) written information or T2 with supplementary audio-visual information (AV) on the opinion concerning immunocastration (IC), raising entire male pigs (EM) and surgical castration with anaesthesia (SA) as compared to castration without anaesthesia (SC) was investigated in a student population. Overall, IC was significantly preferred over SC. The information condition influenced the preference for IC and EM as compared to SC. Participants exposed to AV were more positive to IC than participants exposed to T1 and T2, and more positive to EM than participants exposed to T2. The impact of information condition was not affected by gender, farming experience, knowledge about the boar taint issue or personal relevance of pig welfare. Potential effects of providing background information and media campaigns on public surveys ought to be considered. Supplementary audio-visual information increased the impact of information provisioning.

Association between traditional food consumption and motives for food choice in six European countries.

This study investigates the association between traditional food consumption and motives for food choice in six European countries. Cross-sectional data were collected through the TRUEFOOD pan-European consumer survey (n = 4828) with samples representative for age, gender and region in Belgium, France, Italy, Norway, Poland and Spain. Importance attached to familiarity with a product is found to be strongly and positively associated with general attitude toward traditional food as well as traditional food consumption. The importance attached to convenience was negatively related to both general attitude toward traditional food and traditional food consumption, while the importance of weight control negatively influenced the general attitude. Natural content of food was positively associated with the attitude toward traditional food and traditional food consumption. The importance of price when purchasing food failed to be significantly related with general attitude and traditional food consumption both for the pooled sample as well as within each country except in Spain. The proposed model contributes to a better understanding of factors shaping the image and influencing the consumption of traditional foods in Europe. General attitude toward traditional foods, familiarity, and importance of food naturalness emerged as drivers for traditional food consumption. Importance attached to convenience and health acted as direct barriers to traditional food consumption, whereas importance of weight control emerged as an indirect barrier through lowering general attitude toward traditional foods.

Consumer-driven definition of traditional food products and innovation in traditional foods. A qualitative cross-cultural study.

Traditional food products (TFP) are an important part of European culture, identity, and heritage. In order to maintain and expand the market share of TFP, further improvement in safety, health, or convenience is needed by means of different innovations. The aim of this study was to obtain a consumer-driven definition for the concept of TFP and innovation and to compare these across six European countries (Belgium, France, Italy, Norway, Poland and Spain) by means of semantic and textual statistical analyses. Twelve focus groups were performed, two per country, under similar conditions. The transcriptions obtained were submitted to an ordinary semantic analysis and to a textual statistical analysis using the software ALCESTE. Four main dimensions were identified for the concept of TFP: habit-natural, origin-locality, processing-elaboration and sensory properties. Five dimensions emerged around the concept of innovation: novelty-change, variety, processing-technology, origin-ethnicity and convenience. TFP were similarly perceived in the countries analysed, while some differences were detected for the concept of innovation. Semantic and statistical analyses of the focus groups led to similar results for both concepts. In some cases and according to the consumers' point of view the application of innovations may damage the traditional character of TFP.

Communicating risks and benefits from fish consumption: impact on Belgian consumers' perception and intention to eat fish.

Communicating about the health effects of fish and seafood may potentially result in a conflict situation: increasing intake is desirable because of health and nutritional benefits, but higher consumption may also lead to an increased intake of potentially harmful environmental contaminants. In order to anticipate the communication challenge this conflict may pose, the research presented here aimed to assess the impact of risk/benefit communication on Belgian consumers' fish consumption behavior and fish attribute perception. Data were collected in June 2005 from a sample of 381 women, aged between 20 and 50 years. An experimental design consisting of four message conditions (benefit-only; risk-only; benefit-risk; and risk-benefit) combined with three information sources (fish and food industry; consumer organization; government) was used. Exposure to the benefit-only message resulted in an increase from a self-reported fish consumption frequency of 4.2 times per month to an intended fish consumption frequency of 5.1 times per month (+21%), while fish attribute perceptions only marginally improved. The risk-only message resulted in a strong negative perceptual change in the range of two points on a seven-point scale. This translated into an 8% decrease of behavioral intention (from eating fish 4.5 times per month to an intention of eating fish 4.1 times per month). Balanced messages referring to both risks and benefits yielded no significant change in behavioral intention, despite a significant worsening of fish attribute perception. The presentation order of benefits and risks in the balanced message showed a tendency to affect both behavioral intention and attribute perception, with the first message component being most influential. Information source did not yield any significant impact either on behavioral intention or on attribute perceptions, independent of the message content. The results from this study provide valuable insights for future risk/benefit and balanced communication about seafood.

Probabilistic intake assessment of multiple compounds as a tool to quantify the nutritional-toxicological conflict related to seafood consumption.

Seafood represents a natural source of valuable nutrients (e.g., long chain omega-3 poly-unsaturated fatty acids (LC n-3 PUFAs), vitamin D, and iodine), but the favourable health perception is troubled by the presence of contaminants (e.g., PCBs, dioxin-like compounds, and (methyl) mercury (MeHg)). This dualism forms the basis for an important public health conflict. The objective of this study was to calculate and evaluate the simultaneous intake of multiple beneficial and harmful compounds (LC n-3 PUFAs, vitamin D, iodine, (Me)Hg, PCBs, and dioxin-like compounds) via seafood consumption in Belgium. A methodology and a software module were developed for executing probabilistic assessments of the simultaneous intake of multiple compounds leading to better insight in the problematic nature of food items involving both health benefits and risks. The simulations concerning seafood consumption in Belgium predicted that, as far as only seafood consumption is concerned, the considered populations do not reach a sufficiently high intake for the three nutrients considered (LC n-3 PUFAs, vitamin D, and iodine). Regarding the contaminants, (Me)Hg contamination of seafood on the Belgian market does not seem to be an issue of major toxicological concern. In contrast, for dioxin-like compounds the tolerable daily intake is reached by people with high seafood consumption.

Perceived importance of sustainability and ethics related to fish: a consumer behavior perspective.

Although sustainability and ethics are of increasing public importance, little research has been conducted to reveal its association with fish consumer behavior. Cross-sectional data were collected through a postal self-administered survey (June 2005) from a sample of 381 Flemish women aged 20-50 years. Consumers attach high perceived importance to sustainability and ethics related to fish. However, this perceived importance is neither correlated with fish consumption frequency nor with general attitude toward eating fish. Refusing to eat wild fish is grounded in sustainability and ethical concerns, whereas the decision not to eat farmed fish is associated with a lower expected intrinsic quality rather than shaped by importance attached to sustainability and ethical issues.