Consumer Perspectives on Processing Technologies for Organic Food

Impact of must clarification treatments on chemical and sensory profiles of kiwifruit wine

This study examined the effect of various clarification treatments on the physicochemical properties, volatile compounds, and sensory attributes of kiwi wines produced from five different kiwifruit (Actinidia deliciosa) varieties. The degree of clarification had a minimal impact on physicochemical parameters, including the content of residual sugar, ethanol, volatile acid, titratable acidity (except for the kiwifruit variety 'Qinmei'), and the pH value. However, wines made from unclarified juices (muddy juice and pulp) displayed a higher glycerol content than those made from clarified juices. The cluster heat map and principal component analyses (PCA) demonstrated that kiwi wines produced from clarified kiwi juices possessed a higher ester content, whereas muddy juice and pulp wines contained elevated levels of higher alcohols. Quantitative descriptive analysis (QDA) indicated that clarified juice wines outperformed muddy juice and pulp wines in terms of purity, typicality, harmony, intensity, and freshness, with negligible differences in terms of palate acidity. Moreover, the clarified juice wines featured more characteristic kiwi wine aromas (kiwifruit, passionfruit, and pineapple) compared with that of the muddy juice and pulp wines, which exhibited an increased grassy flavour. Although the 100-NTU kiwifruit juice-fermented wine did not show an advantage in the cluster heat map and PCA, it presented better freshness, typicality, and intensity in the QDA, as well as a more passionfruit aroma. Based on the orthogonal partial least-squares discriminant analysis, A. deliciosa 'Xuxiang' was deemed to be the most suitable variety for vinification. This study provides crucial insights for enhancing the production of high-quality kiwi wine.

The Analysis of Residents' Intention to Consume Pre-Made Dishes in China: A Grounded Theory

The demand for pre-made dishes has increased in China. However, a detailed understanding of residents' intention to consume pre-made dishes is lacking in the existing studies. This research aims to investigate the consumer motives and intention to consume pre-made dishes. Through in-depth interviews and analysis, this research explores the factors influencing the residents' intention along the research steps of grounded theory. Fifty-one residents participated in semi-structured interviews via face-to-face or online interviews. Three motives for purchasing pre-made dishes were attitude, subjective norm, and perceived control. These were influenced by external factors, including environmental features and product features. Subjective characteristics are pre-existing characteristics of individuals themselves, including cooking skills, food skills, housework allocation, and eating attitudes, which play a moderating role in the relationship between external factors and consumer motives. Based on the six major categories, this study built a model of the formation mechanism of the consumer intention to consume pre-made dishes. It revealed the psychological attribution of residents' consumption of pre-made dishes. The finding of this study contributes to the understanding of the internal logic of PMDs' consumer intention formation. It would be a guide for researchers to map out appropriate business development strategies, and provide evidence for the government in formulating management policies.

Effect of perception of sustainability in local food experiences on healthy eating tendency: mediator and moderator effects

Tourists who favor local food typically care about healthy food choices. Their view of locally produced food as healthy is related to perceptions of sustainability. This relationship can be explained by tourists' personality traits and tendency to eat local food. This study aimed to establish the effect of tourists' perceptions of sustainability in the context of local food experiences on healthy eating tendencies. In addition, we aimed to determine the role of tourists' personality traits and local eating tendencies and elucidate the moderating role of searching online for information on food choices. An online questionnaire (via e-mail and WhatsApp) was used to obtain data from 379 research participants, recruited using a non-probabilistic sampling technique. A research model and hypotheses were formed based on Hayes PROCESS Macro models 90 and 6, and moderator and mediator effects were analyzed using these models. Healthy eating was well-explained by the model, and the perception of social and environmental sustainability in local food experiences (LFE-SES) positively affected food-related personality traits (FRPT), local food eating tendencies (LFET), and healthy eating (HE). While food-related personality traits did not mediate the relationship between the perception of sustainability and healthy eating, local food eating tended to mediate this relationship. In addition, when food-related personality traits and local food eating tendencies were evaluated together, they had a mediating role between the perception of sustainability and healthy eating. Searching online for information had an insignificant moderating effect. These findings help promote an understanding of healthy eating tendencies. Within the context of local food, they suggest critical theoretical and practical implications for the relationship between the perception of sustainability, food-related personality traits, local food eating tendencies, and healthy eating.

Orchard meadows: consumer perception and communication of a traditional agroforestry system in Germany

Europe has a large variety of historic cultural agroforestry systems which provide numerous ecosystem services. Traditional agroforestry landscapes are characterized by a high level of biodiversity, but they lack an economic basis due to considerable time and financial effort required for cultivation, maintenance, and harvesting. Orchard meadows (OM) are a typical example for agroforestry systems. They combine large fruit trees with undercropping or livestock raising. This study investigates consumer knowledge and preferences for OM products and the possibilities of improved communication to increase consumer demand. Focus groups were conducted with German consumers. The results demonstrate that consumers have a very positive perception of OM juice in terms of taste, local production, health, and environmental benefits. In order to increase the demand for OM juice, communication with consumers needs to be improved by highlighting these positive attributes.

Organic Juice Processing Quality from the Processors' Perspective: A Qualitative Study

Organic food quality is based on processing. While the EU organic production regulation focuses on agricultural production, private standards provide more detailed information about further processing. For the development of organic processing, practitioner perspectives can provide valuable input. To get insight into practitioner perspectives, we conducted semi-structured expert interviews with nine employees of seven partly organic juice processing companies from Germany and Austria. Interview topics were (i) quality of organic juice processing in general, (ii) assessment of specific processing techniques, (iii) product quality of organic juice and (iv) flow of information between producer and consumer. We conducted a thematic analysis. We found that the experts' understanding of process quality mostly includes more aspects than the EU organic production regulation. It covers the whole food chain plus aspects of social and environmental sustainability. The experts prefer directly bottled juice of local raw materials but chiefly accept juice made from concentrate of exotic raw materials because of environmental concerns. Organic juice is preferred when it is cloudy and natural fluctuations are interpreted as an indicator of natural quality. The experts report that consumer information is challenging because of low food literacy. Raising this might help reduce the number of processed juices on the market.

Czech Consumers' Preference for Organic Products in Online Grocery Stores during the COVID-19 Pandemic

A major advantage of online organic produce shopping is the fact that it saves energy and reduces emissions otherwise generated by customers during their time spent on the road and while shopping. Organic products in general positively impact sustainability, the environment, and the regions of their origin along with the social changes in these regions and further rural development. Moreover, these products positively impact the perceived health benefits and quality of food labeled as organic. The Czech Republic has currently seen a rise in organic food purchasing and supply trends. This study maps the factors possibly influencing consumers' decision to go shopping for organic food online. Observed factors include the following demographic characteristics of consumers (respondents): gender, age, education, household income, number of children in the household and number of household members. A total of 757 respondents from the Czech Republic from September 2020 to December 2020 took part in the research. Logistic regression, used for data processing, identified the statistically significant effects of education, income and number of household members on online purchases. These conclusions were confirmed by a detailed contingency tables analysis, including the almost monotonous trend of the dependencies, with only minor deviations in a maximum of one category. The strongest influence of some categories on the emergence of partial dependencies was found by residue analysis. The research confirmed that the frequency of online grocery shopping increases significantly with increasing education and income of respondents and decreases with increasing the number of household members. Most respondents apparently shop for groceries online because of time savings, better product choice and more convenient and easier search.

Win Big with Small: The Influence of Organic Food Packaging Size on Purchase Intention

People pay much attention to food and health issues, more so these days. Organic food brings its own “organic” aura as soon as it is produced. Despite the many studies on organic food packaging at present, they mainly focus on packaging design, materials, and colors and pay less attention to packaging size. In view of this gap in the literature, this study explores the influence of organic food packaging size on consumer purchase intention. This article conducted two experiments with 755 participants to examine the effect of organic food packaging size on purchase intention. The results show that the packaging size of organic food has a significant influence on consumer purchase intention. Specifically, the small size of organic food packaging (vs. large) can improve consumer purchase intention, and the green perceived value plays an intermediary role (Study 1). In addition, the consumers’ construal level moderates the influence of organic food packaging size on their purchase intention. For consumers with a high construal level, the small size of organic food packaging (vs. large) can improve their purchase intention. For consumers with a low construal level, large packaging size (vs. small) of organic food can improve their purchase intention (Study 2). This study reveals the psychological mechanism and boundary conditions of organic food packaging size on consumer purchase intention and provides practical enlightenment for enterprises in formulating the size of organic food packaging.

An Exploratory Study of the Purchase and Consumption of Beef: Geographical and Cultural Differences between Spain and Brazil

Beef consumption and production in Spain and Brazil are different with the consumption of beef in Brazil being three times higher than in Spain. In addition, there are variations in the economic value of production and in the traceability system. Therefore, the aim of this research was to understand the purchasing and consumption patterns using the customer behavior analysis technique of focus groups, which analyzed motivations for the consumption of beef, classifying their preferences by the intrinsic and extrinsic attributes at the time of purchase. The key aspect of the consumption of beef, both for Spanish and Brazilian consumers, was personal satisfaction/flavor. Spanish consumers were more conscious than Brazilians of the beneficial and harmful qualities that meat provides. The presence of fat was the factor that most restricted intake in both countries. The most important intrinsic attributes for Spanish and Brazilian consumers were the visual aspects of the meat: color, freshness, and the quantity and disposition of fat. The most important extrinsic characteristics were the price and expiration date. Spanish consumers see packaged meat as convenient and safe, although it is considered by Brazilians to be over-manipulated. The traceability certification on the label provides credibility to the product for the Spanish but only partially for Brazilians.