An inventory of recent innovations in fruit and fruit products

The goals of this study were to make an inventory of recent and ongoing fruit and fruit product innovations, to assess what novelty or improvement they offer, and whether consumers could identify and/or recognise them. Researchers from 11 European countries submitted 386 examples of fruit and fruit product innovations. The list of innovations obtained has been coded, categorised, sorted, and reduced in subsequent stages. First, the examples received were categorised according to the Oslo Manual definitions. Second, product and marketing innovations were selected, as they are the only ones that were likely to be recognised by consumers. Next, analysis revealed that the novelties these innovations offered related to Convenience, Health, Differentiation, Target Group, Information, Sensory Characteristics, In Home and/or Out of Home Quality. Some innovations offered only one novel aspect, whereas others offered multiple aspects. Interrelationships between novel aspects are discussed for those innovations that offered a combination of aspects

The paradigm of consumer-driven and responsive supply chains: An integrated project approach

This paper describes an integrated project approach that forms the basis of the studies on consumer-driven innovative and responsive supply chains in ISAFRUIT Pillar 1. This integrated approach leads to a wide range of indepth results on trends, preferences, and innovativeness of the European consumer in the context of fruit, and on product innovation, chain innovativeness, and transition strategies for the European fruit industry. Differences ill, for instance, preferences for different fresh, prepared, and processed fruit products across consumers and across consumption situations, and differences in consumer innovativeness in the context of novel fruit products, lead towards a cross-cultural European segmentation and a variety of consumer-driven fruit chain strategies to valorise the added value of fruit products. Inputs from social, natural, and technical sciences are combined to optimise true consumer-driven innovativeness

A qualitative analysis on trends in fruit consumption in four European countries

Abstract The aim of this paper is to present future fruit consumption trends in four European countries using expert interviews. Experts from both outside and within the food fruit sector in Greece, the Netherlands, Poland and Spain were asked to elaborate on the trend factors that have influenced fruit consumption in the past and on the trend factors that are expected to have an impact in the future. Furthermore, they were asked to draw possible future scenarios on fruit consumption. As expected, the most important past trend factor that emerged in all countries was the importance of people¿s health in relation to fruit consumption. Besides the health trend, which is expected to become even more important, convenience is also indicated as an important determinant of fruit consumption in the future. In addition, future scenarios drawn by the experts were concerned with health aspects, convenience and a decreasing impact of economic factors. Moreover, all experts predicted that future fruit consumption in Europe will increase significantly

A scale for consumer confidence in the safety of food

The aim of this study was to develop and validate a scale to measure general consumer confidence in the safety of food. Results from exploratory and confirmatory analyses indicate that general consumer confidence in the safety of food consists of two distinct dimensions, optimism and pessimism, which can co-exist. Since optimism and pessimism may not be activated by the same events, or at the same time, these dimensions should be assessed and evaluated separately, in order to increase understanding of consumer confidence in the safety of food, and to develop effective food risk communicatio

Role of product characteristics for the adoption of fruit and fruit product innovations

The aim of this study was the identification of those product characteristics that are important for the adoption of fruit and fruit product innovations by consumers. Sixteen focus group discussions were held in four European countries (Greece, The Netherlands, Poland, and Spain). Different aspects of six innovative fruit products were discussed, revealing those characteristics that were important for the adoption of each of them. It was observed that the participants did not perceive fruit innovations as a homogenous group, but assigned them to different groups, which led to a number of categories of fruit innovation. Three categories concerned the level of preparation of fruit. These were fresh, prepared, and processed fruit product innovations. Another two categories, radical and evolutionary innovations, related to the level of novelty of the fruit innovation. Characteristics important for the adoption of each of these categories are given.The results will be used for further, more quantitative, research

Factors influencing societal response of nanotechnology : an expert stakeholder analysis

Nanotechnology can be described as an emerging technology and, as has been the case with other emerging technologies such as genetic modification, different socio-psychological factors will potentially influence societal responses to its development and application. These factors will play an important role in how nanotechnology is developed and commercialised. This article aims to identify expert opinion on factors influencing societal response to applications of nanotechnology. Structured interviews with experts on nanotechnology from North West Europe were conducted using repertory grid methodology in conjunction with generalized Procrustes analysis to examine the psychological constructs underlying societal uptake of 15 key applications of nanotechnology drawn from different areas (e.g. medicine, agriculture and environment, chemical, food, military, sports, and cosmetics). Based on expert judgement, the main factors influencing societal response to different applications of nanotechnology will be the extent to which applications are perceived to be beneficial, useful, and necessary, and how 'real' and physically close to the end-user these applications are perceived to be by the publi

Impacts of fast food and food retail environment on overweight and obesity in China: a multilevel latent class cluster approach

Objective To simultaneously identify consumer segments based on individual-level consumption and community-level food retail environment data and to investigate whether the segments are associated with BMI and dietary knowledge in China. Design A multilevel latent class cluster model was applied to identify consumer segments based not only on their individual preferences for fast food, salty snack foods, and soft drinks and sugared fruit drinks, but also on the food retail environment at the community level. Setting The data came from the China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS) conducted in 2006 and two questionnaires for adults and communities were used. Subjects A total sample of 9788 adults living in 218 communities participated in the CHNS. Results We successfully identified four consumer segments. These four segments were embedded in two types of food retail environment: the saturated food retail environment and the deprived food retail environment. A three-factor solution was found for consumers’ dietary knowledge. The four consumer segments were highly associated with consumers’ dietary knowledge and a number of sociodemographic variables. Conclusions The widespread discussion about the relationships between fast-food consumption and overweight/obesity is irrelevant for Chinese segments that do not have access to fast food. Factors that are most associated with segments with a higher BMI are consumers’ (incorrect) dietary knowledge, the food retail environment and sociodemographics. The results provide valuable insight for policy interventions on reducing overweight/obesity in China. This study also indicates that despite the breathtaking changes in modern China, the impact of ‘obesogenic’ environments should not be assessed too strictly from a ‘Western’ perspective

Members' Preferences for Co-operative Structures: An Experimental Conjoint Study

Abstract As market conditions change rapidly in the 21st century, questions arise concerning how the organizational structures of co-operatives (co-ops) can meet the challenges that these new conditions pose. This paper introduces a framework to structure marketing co-ops (MCs) based on members¿ preferences. Several notions from the behavioral decision theory framework are utilized, and a principal-agent approach is adopted for the design of this framework. It focuses on the subjective utility that co-op members derive from levels of the MCs¿ firm-behavioral attributes, such as business issue/scope, corporate governance, product-related decision-making, financial structure, member benefits, and product quality. Data was collected by means of in-depth interviews with 30 producers and 120 structured computer-assisted face-to-face interviews. The utilities that producers attached to MC¿s attributes were derived by means of a conjoint experiment