Drivers of fish choice: an exploratory analysis in Mediterranean countries

Fish is an important source of healthy proteins and an important economic sector in Mediterranean countries. Despite the wealth of knowledge acquired in Western countries, a gap has been found in studies in developing countries, as in the Mediterranean southern shore. Therefore, we aimed to investigate consumers' perceptions of finfish attributes, with qualitative tools as focus groups, given the exploratory nature of the research. The focus groups have been held in Italy, Lebanon, Spain, and Tunisia; in each country, one was held in seaside areas and one in inland areas, in order to control for the availability of fish that shapes consumers' evaluations and expectations. The focus groups have been analysed through content and semantic analyses. Results of the study yielded main themes recurring in the discussions that have been categorized along such dimensions: (1) definition of fish products; (2) context; (3) search attributes; (4) experience attributes; and (5) credence attributes. Among attributes, the ones mostly guiding consumers' choices seem to be freshness and fish species, which are used as proxies for quality and sensory attributes. Most of the respondents preferred delicate white fish, while some exceptions were found in Tunisian respondents preferring blue fish and they also were the only ones who were not looking for convenient and already cleaned products. Trust also represented a critical element in guiding the decisions of consumers: with a lack of trust, consumers deviate from preferring local products, as noticeable especially in Lebanese respondents' opinions. Credence attributes such as animal welfare and sustainability received a minor attention from all the respondents.

A systematic review of the determinants of seafood consumption

Although seafood is considered to be an important part of a balanced diet, many national food consumption surveys suggest that seafood is not consumed in sufficient amounts. As consumers are moving to diversify their diet from animal-based protein, it is important to understand the factors influencing consumption of marine foods. This review aims to assess the characteristics of seafood consumers as well as the influences on seafood consumption in Europe, USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Systematic search strategies were used to identify relevant journal articles from three electronic databases (PubMed, Web of Science and Embase). Three searches were carried out and identified 4405 unique publications from which 121 met the criteria for the review process. The reviewed studies revealed that seafood consumers were more likely to be older, more affluent and more physically active and were less likely to smoke compared with non-seafood consumers. Sex and BMI did not appear to have a directional association with seafood consumption. The most commonly reported barriers to seafood consumption were cost, followed by sensory or physical barriers, health and nutritional beliefs, habits, availability and cooking skills. The most commonly reported influences were beliefs about the contribution of seafood to health, environmental influences and personal preferences. Based on the findings of this review, future intervention strategies to increase seafood consumption may need to consider affordability and education in terms of health, nutrition and cooking skills. More research is needed to explore the effectiveness of specific interventions at increasing the consumption of seafood.