The Impact of Environmental Sustainability Labels on Willingness-to-Pay for Foods: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Discrete Choice Experiments

Residents' Willingness to Pay for Water Pollution Treatment and Its Influencing Factors: a Case Study of Taihu Lake Basin

This study designs a double-bounded dichotomous questionnaire, and uses the Contingent Valuation Method (CVM) to estimate residents' willingness to pay(WTP) for water pollution control along the Taihu Lake Basin. The results of the returned questionnaire show that 82.76% of the residents are willing to pay. CVM estimation results show that the average WTP of residents for water pollution control is 138.86 yuan/year. In addition, the influencing factors of WTP are explored using a Logistic regression model, and the heterogeneity of WTP among residents of different genders is analyzed. The study found that: (1) The younger the residents, the higher their WTP; (2) The higher the income, the higher the residents' WTP for water pollution control; (3) Residents with higher educational level are more willing to pay; (4) The higher the degree of residents' understanding of water pollution control policies, the higher the WTP; (5) The higher the degree of residents' recognition of pro-environmental behavior, the higher the WTP; (6) Male residents' WTP is mainly affected by cognitive factors such as their understanding of governance policies and their approval of pro-environmental behaviors, while female residents' WTP is mainly affected by personal attributes, such as age, income, and the number of household laborers. Furthermore, this study proposes targeted measures to improve residents' WTP from three aspects: the government enriches the channels for residents to participate in water pollution control, the social media enriches the popularization of water environment knowledge, and the school strengthens the education of environmental protection knowledge, considering the differences in residents' characteristics. Therefore, this study can provide a theoretical reference and decision-making basis for encouraging residents to participate in water pollution control, promote the construction of a beautiful watershed, and provide a reference for other basins.

The effect of information about hazardous chemicals in consumer products on behaviour - A systematic review

Exposure to hazardous chemicals in consumer products poses significant risks to personal health and the environment, and the combined effects may be negative even if each individual exposure is low. This necessitates informed and effective policies for risk reduction. This systematic review aims to identify and analyse existing evidence on how consumer preferences, product use, and product disposal are affected by information on harmful chemicals in consumer products and by price interventions. The review is conducted according to the PRISMA 2020 guidelines, synthesises forty-eight scientific articles on the relationship between information and consumer responses. No corresponding studies on the effects of price interventions were found. A large share of the identified articles focused on household chemicals, where warning labels are common, while less has been published on "everyday products" where the presence of hazardous chemicals is less clear to consumers. Effects of information on hazardous chemicals on consumer behaviour are highly contextual and dependent on the type of product, consumer behaviour and what kind of label is used. Warning symbols are effective in communicating a general warning of a potential danger, although consumers often misinterpret specifics regarding the exact nature of that danger or what means should be taken to minimise it. Informational texts are more informative but are also often missed or quickly forgotten. Consumer willingness to pay for safer products is generally positive but low. Additional research on how consumers react to information and price signals on chemical hazards is needed to improve policy design.

Understanding food choice: A systematic review of reviews

The topic of consumer food choice has received much attention among researchers and stakeholders within the food industry. However, in order to better facilitate food consumption towards a more sustainable direction, we need increased knowledge and understanding of factors that influence consumers' food choice. This study is a systematic review of reviews conducted between 2017 and 2021, summarising and synthesising reviews on food choice. The aim is to provide an update of the current knowledge on consumer food choice, point out what is already known, and identify knowledge gaps to enable a prioritisation for future research. The analysis highlights decisive factors in food choice, i.e. product, available information, price, context, personal and group influences and sensory perceptions. The synthesis of findings follows a socioecological model, integrating four different levels of the social and environmental systems: the physical food environment, the social and community level, interpersonal relations and, finally, individual characteristics such as psychological and behavioural factors. Results show that behavioural patterns, influenced by strong informal institutions, such as culture and norms, can be difficult to break; for example, changing into more sustainable food behaviour. The findings suggest that more interdisciplinary research and studies in real-life settings are needed to grasp the complexity of food choice. This would allow for us to better understand consumers as social beings shaped by, among other things, the physical environment, social interactions, and culture.

Strengths and weaknesses of food eco-labeling: a review

Food labeling is increasingly expanding and adding more information to the food package. There is strong evidence about nutrition labeling effectiveness in driving food choice, especially if displayed in the front of package (FoP). Despite the growing attention to nutrition and sustainable diets, few countries have implemented sustainable labels or eco-labels that could address economic, social and/or environmental concerns. Implementing new techniques of eco-labeling emerges as a consumer-focused solution. However, evidence of the effectiveness of eco-labeling in driving consumers' choices is heterogeneous and not univocal. Thus, this review aims to summarize the evidence about the effectiveness of FoP eco-labeling in driving food choice and provide a reference framework of the eco-labeling initiatives relative to food package labeling. This narrative review addresses both the potential benefits as well as the main concerns that arise from the use of eco-labels. Although eco-labeling seems to provide a series of sustainability benefits for producers and consumers, the implementation of such policies should take into consideration potential trade-offs and inter-sectorial coordination to obtain bigger impacts, assuming that a policy itself cannot transform the whole food system. Eco-labeling could be encouraged and implemented within a set of policies shaping sustainable food systems.

Consumer Interaction with Sustainability Labelling on Food Products: A Narrative Literature Review

Sustainability labelling on food products can help consumers make informed purchasing decisions and support the urgent transition to sustainable food systems. While there is a relatively robust body of evidence on health and nutrition labelling, less is known about the effectiveness of sustainability labelling in facilitating sustainable food choices. This paper investigates the impact of sustainability labelling on consumer understanding, attitudes, and behaviour to support a more nuanced, detailed, and holistic understanding of the evidence. Using a narrative literature review methodology, the paper assesses studies covering environmental, social, and/or animal welfare aspects of sustainability labelling on food products. We found that consumer understanding of sustainability information is often limited, which could hinder behaviour change. While sustainability labelling can influence consumer attitudes and purchasing behaviours, evidence from real consumer settings tends to show small effect sizes. Consumers are generally willing to pay more for sustainability-labelled products, and organic labelling often leads to the highest reported willingness to pay. The review emphasises the importance of trust, suggesting a preference for labelling backed by governments or public authorities. Sustainability labelling that uses intuitively understandable cues has an increased impact, with visual aids such as traffic light colours showing promise. We conclude that further research is needed in real-world settings, using representative populations and exploring the influence of demographic factors, values, and attitudes.

Meat Consumption, Sustainability and Alternatives: An Overview of Motives and Barriers

Meat and meat products are important sources of protein in the human diet. However, their consumption or excessive consumption has been questioned as this has been related to sustainability and health issues. Due to this, alternatives to conventional meat consumption, such as meat produced more sustainably or meat alternatives, have been considered. The aim of the present work is to gain insight into the meat consumption of different countries, the motives for and barriers to this consumption, as well as into the consumption of more sustainably produced meat with particular focus on organic meat and meat alternatives. Information on meat consumption has been obtained using FAOSTAT data and maps have been constructed using SAS software. Results showed that, in general, albeit with variations between and within countries, there is a tendency to decrease red meat consumption and increase poultry consumption, while for pork consumption the tendency is less clear. Motives and barriers for meat and meat alternative consumption have been reviewed and it is possible to see that these are very variable and that they, in addition to the intrinsic and extrinsic characteristics of the meat, are also related to consumers' attitudes and beliefs. Thus, it is important to inform consumers in a truthful and reliable way in order to allow them to make well-founded decisions regarding the consumption of these products.

Impact of Health, Environmental, and Animal Welfare Messages Discouraging Red Meat Consumption: An Online Randomized Experiment

BACKGROUND

Reducing red meat consumption is a key strategy for curbing diet-related chronic diseases and mitigating environmental harms from livestock farming. Messaging interventions aiming to reduce red meat consumption have focused on communicating the animal welfare, health, or environmental harms of red meat. Despite the popularity of these 3 approaches, it remains unknown which is most effective, as limited studies have compared them side by side.

OBJECTIVE

Our aim was to evaluate responses to red-meat-reduction messages describing animal welfare, health, or environmental harms.

DESIGN

This was an online randomized experiment.

PARTICIPANTS

In August 2021, a convenience sample of US adults was recruited via an online panel to complete a survey (n = 2,773 nonvegetarians and vegans were included in primary analyses).

INTERVENTION

Participants were randomly assigned to view 1 of the 4 following messages: control (neutral, non-red meat message), animal welfare, health, or environmental red-meat-reduction messages.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

After viewing their assigned message, participants ordered hypothetical meals from 2 restaurants (1 full service and 1 quick service) and rated message reactions, perceptions, and intentions.

STATISTICAL ANALYSES PERFORMED

Logistic and linear regressions were performed.

RESULTS

Compared with the control message, exposure to the health and environmental red-meat-reduction messages reduced red meat selection from the full-service restaurant by 6.0 and 8.8 percentage points, respectively (P = .02 and P < .001, respectively), while the animal welfare message did not (reduction of 3.3 percentage points, P = .20). None of the red-meat-reduction messages affected red meat selection from the quick-service restaurant. All 3 red-meat-reduction messages elicited beneficial effects on key predictors of behavior change, including emotions and thinking about harms.

CONCLUSIONS

Red-meat-reduction messages, especially those describing health or environmental harms, hold promise for reducing red meat selection in some types of restaurants. Additional interventions may be needed to discourage red meat selection across a wider variety of restaurants, for example, by making salient which menu items contain red meat.

Seafood Choice and Consumption Behavior: Assessing the Willingness to Pay for an Edible Sea Urchin

Consumers' behavior towards sea urchin and preferences towards their origin certification and place of consumption may condition their market. In this context, the aim of this research was to elicit the preferences and perceptions of Italian sea urchin dishes using a discrete choice experiment (DCE) approach. A field survey of 453 respondents in Apulia (southern Italy) was conducted for this purpose. The DCE revealed that the origin certification of sea urchin provided Apulia's consumers a high utility with a great pleasurable service in restaurants in which this species was served as a principal dish or seasoned with pasta or pizza. The DCE also showed that the consumption utility of sea urchin was related to a greater influence by place of purchase, place of consumption, technique of conservation, appearance, quality label, fishing zone, low price, male buyer, and, finally, medium and high incomes. Furthermore, Apulian consumers were willing to pay EUR 10.53/dish as an overall average for safe and certified sea urchin consumption. Given this, this research may promote the creation of a local sea urchin brand through the adoption of a market policy and a particular regulation related to the certification of origin, enhancing the competitiveness of this marine heritage species.

Integrated consumers' sustainable and healthy dietary behavior patterns: Associations between demographics, psychological factors, and meal preparation habits among Japanese adults

The consumers' Sustainable and Healthy Dietary Behaviors (SHDBs) links sustainable behaviors related to eating (e.g., choosing, cooking, eating, and disposing of foods) with the level of "dietary behavior." It was hypothesized that SHDBs will vary depending on consumers' meal preparation habits, such as food selection, cooking frequency, and skill. This study examined (1) some of the behavioral patterns of SHDBs and (2) independent predictors of each pattern. In total, 508 Japanese adults who completed cross-sectional self-administered questionnaire surveys in December 2021 were included in the study. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to identify the behavioral patterns of the 30-item SHDBs developed previously by the authors. Additionally, independent predictors of each component score were analyzed using multiple linear regression models, which included demographics, psychological factors concerning SHDBs (pros and cons for the decisional balance of SHDBs and number of environmental issues of interest), and meal preparation habits. Participants' median age was 41 (18-59) years (women: n = 259, 51.0%). Five SHDB patterns with several independent predictors were identified: amalgamation of all SHDBs, healthy food choices but unsustainable cooking, sustainable disposal, avoiding plastic products, and sustainable behaviors regarding expiry date. The multiple linear regression analysis demonstrated the independent predictors of the amalgamation of all SHDBs, such as being a man (β = -0.105), greater pros (β = 0.134), higher cooking frequency (β = 0.443) and skill (β = 0.244). Greater pros and/or smaller cons were associated with four of the five SHDB patterns, including an amalgamation of all SHDBs, healthy food choice and unsustainable cooking, avoiding disposal, and avoiding plastic products. Sustainable and healthy diet education must be implemented to ensure the adoption of all SHDBs.

Dietitians Australia position statement on healthy and sustainable diets

It is the position of Dietitians Australia that to promote human and planetary health, a food system transformation is needed that enables the population to adopt healthy and sustainable diet-related practices. A healthy and sustainable diet must (i) be nutritionally adequate, healthy and safe, (ii) have low environmental impact and be protective of natural resources and biodiversity, (iii) be culturally acceptable and (iv) be accessible, economically fair and affordable. Dietitians Australia acknowledges that it is critical to prioritise Indigenous knowledges in consultation, policy-making and implementation processes to achieve these recommendations. In facilitating the uptake of healthy and sustainable diets, dietitians are contributing to the transformation of our current food system that is urgently required to nourish present and future generations within planetary boundaries. In developing this position statement, opportunities for future research have been identified including those to advance the professions' capacity to improve environmental sustainability outcomes across all areas of practice. To achieve a population-level shift towards this diet, Dietitians Australia recommends: (i) the development of a National Food and Nutrition Strategy which honours Indigenous knowledges on food systems, (ii) the integration of sustainability principles in Australia's dietary guidelines, (iii) the reorientation of our food environment to prioritise access to healthy and sustainable foods, and (iv) investment in capacity building activities to equip the current and future nutrition and dietetics workforce.