Association of health involvement and attitudes towards eating fish on farmed and wild fish consumption in Belgium, Norway and Spain

Consumers in many European countries do not equally meet the recommended daily intake levels for fish consumption. Various factors that can influence fish consumption behaviour have been identified but limited research has been performed on fish consumption behaviour, discriminating between farmed and wild fish. The present survey study confirmed differences in total fish consumption, farmed fish and wild fish consumption behaviour in Belgium, Norway and Spain. Spanish consumers consumed more frequently fish of each category than Norwegian consumers. Belgian consumers reported the lowest consumption frequency of fish. Accordingly, health involvement and attitudes towards fish consumption decreased from Spain over Norway to Belgium, suggesting a positive association of health involvement and attitudes towards fish consumption with total fish consumption. Similar effects were found for farmed and wild fish consumption. In general consumers in all countries were poorly aware of the origin of the fish they consume, despite the mandatory indication of origin on fish labels. Across countries, an increased awareness about fish origin was found with increased fish consumption. The findings of the study indicate that farmed and wild fish consumption should be further stimulated among Belgian, Norwegian and Spanish consumers in association with a healthy and positive meal. Additionally, given the limited awareness of the origin of fish, transparency on the issue of farmed origin will be important in order to anticipate potential adverse communication

Consumer perception of food safety: role and influencing factors

B

On the origin of bursts in blue compact dwarf galaxies: clues from kinematics and stellar populations

Blue compact dwarf galaxies (BCDs) form stars at, for their sizes, extraordinarily high rates. In this paper, we study what triggers this starburst and what is the fate of the galaxy once its gas fuel is exhausted. We select four BCDs with smooth outer regions, indicating them as possible progenitors of dwarf elliptical galaxies. We have obtained photometric and spectroscopic data with the FORS and ISAAC instruments on the VLT. We analyse their infrared spectra using a full spectrum fitting technique, which yields the kinematics of their stars and ionized gas together with their stellar population characteristics. We find that the stellar velocity to velocity dispersion ratio ((nu/sigma)(star)) of our BCDs is of the order of 1.5, similar to that of dwarf elliptical galaxies. Thus, those objects do not require significant (if any) loss of angular momentum to fade into early-type dwarfs. This finding is in discordance with previous studies, which however compared the stellar kinematics of dwarf elliptical galaxies with the gaseous kinematics of star-forming dwarfs. The stellar velocity fields of our objects are very disturbed and the star formation regions are often kinematically decoupled from the rest of the galaxy. These regions can be more or less metal rich with respect to the galactic body and sometimes they are long lived. These characteristics prevent us from pinpointing a unique trigger of the star formation, even within the same galaxy. Gas impacts, mergers, and in-spiraling gas clumps are all possible star formation igniters for our targets

Determinants of information behaviour and information literacy related to healthy eating among Internet users in five European countries

Introduction. This study investigates how Europeans seek information related to healthy eating, what determines their information seeking and whether any problems are encountered in doing so. Method. A survey was administered through computer-assisted on-line web-interviewing. Respondents were grouped by age and sex (n=3003, age + 16) in Belgium, Denmark, Italy, Poland, and the UK. Analysis. Descriptive statistics and regression analysis were used to analyse the influence of social, demographic, psychological and economic characteristics on the information seeking of the respondents. Results. Nearly half of those surveyed do not know where to look for information on healthy diets. Men, less well educated, poorer and sicker person know less about where to look for such information and are less likely to attempt finding it. Most of the respondents searching for information on the Internet use Google as a search tool. Conclusions. Individual and environmental factors affect information behaviour and should be taken into account in public campaigns aimed at changing eating habits of the population to increase their effectiveness. More emphasis should be placed on raising health information literacy of the information-poor, men, the uneducated, and the economically disadvantaged

Attitudinal determinants of fish consumption in Spain and Poland

Objective: To identify attitudinal determinants of fish consumption in Spain and Poland, and to discuss the potential impact of local healthy eating policies in the observed reported frequency of fish consumption. Design: Repeated survey analysis , multivariate linear regression analysis. Data collected through a questionnaire that included socio-demographics, self-reported anthropometrics, as well as validated items of attitudinal and involvement scales, validated items of knowledge about fish, and behaviours (reported fish consumption). Setting: Consumer survey in Poland and Spain, 1800 respondents in 2004 and 1815 respondents in 2008. Results: In Poland, intentions to consume more fish and reported fish consumption increased in the four years period between both surveys, together with objective knowledge regarding fish. In Spain with the exception of subjective knowledge, fish consumption at home and total fish consumption, all attitudinal and involvement scale changes were statistically significant. Multivariate regression revealed that age had a small but significant positive effect in all scales, except for satisfaction with life, fish consumption out of home and subjective health. Satisfaction with life and subjective knowledge were significantly determined by household size. The differences between countries were statistically significant for involvement with health and fish, for intention to eat fish, the general attitudes and objective knowledge regarding fish. Conclusions: In Poland, a more positive attitude towards fish, and increased levels of knowledge about this product were observed and could partially be attributed to national policy efforts. In Spain, an interesting feature was observed: more people reported choosing fish when eating out in 2008 compared with respondents in 2004. Such a trend suggests that people slowly move towards healthier choices even in the out of home eating

Az élelmiszer kockázatokra adott fogyasztói reakciók és a kommunikáció

Ez a dolgozat elméleti alapokat és empirikus megállapításokat tartalmaz az élelmiszer kockázatok fogyasztói érzékeléséről, illetve a kommunikáció hatásáról. Jelen esetben a BSE, a dioxin, a Coca-Cola és a funkcionális élelmiszerek tanulmányozására került sor az 1996-2002 közötti időszakban az egyes ágazatokon átívelő felülvizsgálatok, valamint idősoros adatok alapján. Az esettanulmányok hangsúlyozzák a biztonságos élelmiszerrel kapcsolatos kommunikációs stratégiák kialakításának kihívásait

Consumer perceptions of beef healthiness: results from a qualitative study in four European countries

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Consumer perception of the healthiness of beef is an important determinant of beef consumption. However, little is known about how consumers perceive the healthiness of beef. The aim of this study is to shed light on the associations between beef and health.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Eight focus group discussions were conducted in four European countries (France, UK, Germany, Spain), each consisting of seven to nine participants. A content analysis was performed on the transcripts of these discussions.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Although beef was generally perceived as healthful, focus group participants expected positive as well as negative effects of beef consumption on their health. Labelled, branded, fresh and lean beef were perceived as signalling healthful beef, in contrast with further processed and packaged beef. Consumers felt that their individual choices could make a difference with respect to the healthiness of beef consumed. Focus group participants were not in favour of improving beef healthiness during processing, but rather focussed on appropriate consumption behaviour and preparation methods.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The individual responsibility for health implies that consumers should be able to make correct judgements about how healthful their food is. However, the results of this study indicate that an accurate assessment of beef healthiness is not always straightforward. The presented results on consumer perceptions of beef healthiness provide insights into consumer decision making processes, which are important for the innovation and product differentiation in the European beef sector, as well as for public health policy decisions related to meat consumption in general and beef consumption in particular.</p

Analogies, metaphors, and wondering about the future: Lay sense-making around synthetic meat

Drawing on social representations theory, we explore how the public make sense of the unfamiliar, taking as the example a novel technology: synthetic meat. Data from an online deliberation study and eighteen focus groups in Belgium, Portugal and the UK indicated that the various strategies of sense-making afforded different levels of critical thinking about synthetic meat. Anchoring to genetic modification, metaphors like ‘Frankenfoods’ and commonplaces like ‘playing God’ closed off debates around potential applications of synthetic meat, whereas asking factual and rhetorical questions about it, weighing up pragmatically its risks and benefits, and envisaging changing current mentalities or behaviours in order to adapt to scientific developments enabled a consideration of synthetic meat’s possible implications for agriculture, environment, and society. We suggest that research on public understanding of technology should cultivate a climate of active thinking and should encourage questioning during the process of sense-making to try to reduce unhelpful anchoring