The Relation between Attitudes toward Functional Foods and Satisfaction with Food-Related Life

Purpose – To assess the effect of attitudes towards functional foods (FF) on university students’ satisfaction with food-related life and to distinguish student typologies, considering that the attitudes towards FF are not homogeneous among consumers. Design/methodology - A survey was applied to 372 university students (mean age=20.4 years, SD=2.4) in southern Chile. The questionnaire included the Attitudes towards Functional Foods (AFF) questionnaire and the Satisfaction with Food-related Life (SWFL) scale, questions about consumption and knowledge about FF and socio-demographic characteristics. Findings – Using Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and Structural Equation Modelling, it was found that attitudes toward functional foods directly and significantly influence students’ satisfaction with food-related life. A cluster analysis applied to the Z-scores from the factors obtained by the CFA classified three typologies: Positive towards FF (36.3%), moderately positive towards FF (43.0%) and negative towards FF (20.7%). The positive towards FF type had a significantly greater SWFL score than the negative towards FF type. The types differ according to consumption and knowledge about FF. Research limitations/implications – This study was conducted in the context of only one country in South America. Originality/value – This study is the first that assesses the effect of AFF on satisfaction with food-related life in a sample of university students. Fostering positive attitudes towards FF will allow for a growth in the degree of satisfaction with food-related life of university students with features similar to those of the study sample

Improving the quality of pork and pork products for the consumer : development of innovative, integrated, and sustainable food production chains of high quality pork products matching consumer demands

Improving the quality of pork and pork products for the consumer: development of innovative, integrated, and sustainable food production chains of high quality pork products matching consumer demands

An exploratory study into the role and interplay of intrinsic and extrinsic cues in Australian consumers’ evaluations of fish.

This study explores the role and interplay of intrinsic and extrinsic cues when evaluating fish quality and in shaping consumers' attitudes toward fish consumption. A sensory analysis of nine different fish including five variants of barramundi was conducted to determine how consumers evaluated the fish on intrinsic cues. Focus groups were then conducted to explore the impact of extrinsic cues on attitudes and purchase intentions. While the sensory analysis revealed distinct differences between barramundi variants on intrinsic cues (notably taste), the focus groups revealed that, as a brand, barramundi is perceived much more favourably and consistently. Consumers used extrinsic cues, particularly country of origin, as surrogate indicators of quality. Aquaculture producers need to ensure intrinsic product quality and consistency, as while consumers use the extrinsic cue of "Australian grown" as a surrogate indicator of quality, as their familiarity and confidence with seafood grows, this overreliance on extrinsic cues may diminish

An Evaluation of the COVID-19 Pandemic and Perceived Social Distancing Policies in Relation to Planning, Selecting, and Preparing Healthy Meals: An Observational Study in 38 Countries Worldwide

Objectives: To examine changes in planning, selecting, and preparing healthy foods in relation to personal factors (time, money, stress) and social distancing policies during the COVID-19 crisis. Methods: Using cross-sectional online surveys collected in 38 countries worldwide in April-June 2020 (N = 37,207, Mage 36.7 SD 14.8, 77% women), we compared changes in food literacy behaviors to changes in personal factors and social distancing policies, using hierarchical multiple regression analyses controlling for sociodemographic variables. Results: Increases in planning (4.7 SD 1.3, 4.9 SD 1.3), selecting (3.6 SD 1.7, 3.7 SD 1.7), and preparing (4.6 SD 1.2, 4.7 SD 1.3) healthy foods were found for women and men, and positively related to perceived time availability and stay-at-home policies. Psychological distress was a barrier for women, and an enabler for men. Financial stress was a barrier and enabler depending on various sociodemographic variables (all p < 0.01). Conclusion: Stay-at-home policies and feelings of having more time during COVID-19 seem to have improved food literacy. Stress and other social distancing policies relate to food literacy in more complex ways, highlighting the necessity of a health equity lens. Copyright 2021 De Backer, Teunissen, Cuykx, Decorte, Pabian, Gerritsen, Matthys, Al Sabbah, Van Royen and the Corona Cooking Survey Study Group.This research was funded by the Research Foundation Flanders (G047518N) and Flanders Innovation and Entrepreneurship (HBC.2018.0397). These funding sources had no role in the design of the study, the analysis and interpretation of the data or the writing of, nor the decision to publish the manuscript.Scopu

Consumer-Oriented New Product Development

Introduction For most companies, the introduction of successful new products is critical to the achievement of the short- and longterm corporate strategic goals of profitability, growth, and continuity. As an illustration, more than 25% of the current retail food sales in the US have been reported to consist of products introduced within the past 5 years (Hughes, 1994). Similarly, US marketing managers indicated that they expect 40% of the company profit made in 5 years’ time would come from products not currently on the market (Booz et al., 1982). Within the well-established product-market expansion matrix for growth (Ansoff, 1957), new product development (NPD) is identified as one of the important growth strategies of the firm. Despite the fact that successful NPD is crucial to profitability and growth ambitions, the actual success rates of new product introductions are fairly disappointing. Although there is a lack of reliable data on actual success and failure rates, reported failure rates are ranging anywhere between 40% (e.g., Barczak et al., 2009) and as high as 90% (e.g., Gourville, 2006). One reason for this lack of insight into actual success and failure rates stems from how success rates are being defined (Castellion and Markham, 2013). Success rates have been expressed as the percentage of commercialized new products that not only meet their marketing (e.g., market share and profit contribution) objectives, but also relative to the number of initial ideas that have entered the NPD selection process. Research on the 2003 the Product Development and Management Association best practices study (Barczak et al., 2009) suggests that approximately 15% of the new product ideas and approximately 60% of the new products actually introduced into the market place make it to a commercial success in the market. Whatever the exact metric and the exact percentage be, failure rates of new product introduction are an important concern to academics and practitioners alike, as new product introductions require substantial up-front investments that are not necessarily recouped from the new product’s financial returns. Bottom-line, NPD is an activity that is both necessary in light of market turbulence, but at the same time quite uncertain and risky in terms of potential failure. Not surprisingly, the NPD process has received a lot of attention in the marketing and management literatures (see Hart, 1996 for an overview)