Consumer acceptance of nutrigenomics based personalised nutrition

Nutrigenomics is a new and promising development in nutritional science which aims to understand the fundamental molecular processes affected by foods. Despite general agreement on its promise for better understanding diet¿health relationships, less consensus exists among experts on the potential of spin-offs aimed at the consumer such as personalised nutrition. Research into consumer acceptance of such applications is scarce. The present study develops a set of key hypotheses on public acceptance of personalised nutrition and tests these in a representative sample of Dutch consumers. An innovative consumer research methodology is used in which consumers evaluate short films which are systematically varied scenarios for the future of personalised nutrition. Consumer evaluations of these films, which are pre-tested in a pilot study, allow a formal test of how consumer perceptions of personalised nutrition drive consumer acceptance and through which fundamental psychological processes these effects are mediated. Public acceptance is enhanced if consumers can make their genetic profile available free at their own choice, if the actual spin-off products provide a clearly recognisable advantage to the consumer, and are easy to implement into the daily routine. Consumers prefer communication on nutrigenomics and personalised nutrition by expert stakeholders to be univocal and aimed at building support with consumers and their direct environments for this intriguing new development. Additionally, an exploratory segmentation analysis indicated that people have different focal points in their preferences for alternative scenarios of personalised nutrition. The insights obtained from the present study provide guidance for the successful further development of nutrigenomics and its applications

Dairy farmers can change: results of a five-year national mastitis control program in The Netherlands

Over the years, much effort has been put into mastitis control programs. To further improve such programs, we need to understand farmers’ knowledge, attitude and behavior regarding udder health, and the way this can be influenced by mastitis control programs. This study aimed to explore the effect of a Dutch national mastitis control program on farmers’ knowledge, attitude and behavior regarding mastitis. In this study, 204 randomly selected dairy farmers completed a survey on attitude, knowledge and behavior regarding mastitis before the start of the national mastitis control program (2004) and in the final year of the program (2009). Statistical analyses show that, compared to 2004, the attitude, knowledge and behavior of the participating farmers changed significantly. Farmers’ satisfaction level and problem level of BMSCC changed; farmers were satisfied with on average 156,000 cells/ml in 2004 compared to 150,000 cells/ml in 2009, and perceived a problem at 285,000 cells/ml in 2004 compared to 271,000 cells/ml in 2009. More farmers perceived that they had sufficient knowledge about the control of mastitis (34% in 2004 vs. 53% in 2009), and they focused more often on udder health characteristics when selecting bulls (46% vs. 61%). Specific mastitis control measures have increased significantly during the program. The use of milking gloves increased from 15% to 46%, the use of a standardized mastitis treatment protocol increased from 7% to 34% and cubicles are cleaned more often (2.28 vs. 2.51 times/day)

Farmers’ reaction upon receiving economic information in controlling somatic cell count

Adoption and implementation of efficient somatic cell count (SCC) control practices is an action of behavioral change, which is notoriously difficult to achieve and sustain, even when substantial production and economic gains are to be expected. In the current study, it was tested whether farmers are aware of these potential gains and whether providing farmers additional information on projected economic losses on a regular basis may motivate them to implement enhanced control practices. In-depth interviews revealed that the majority of the dairy farmers perceived cow-specific and herd-specific projected losses, due to elevated SCC levels, as not very relevant to them. Farmers posed that SCC was already monitored regularly at cow-level and provided them adequate information to support decision making. Actions were rationalized in a specific context comprising the intertwined notions of intentions and efficacy believes. Understanding of these notions is essential when advising farmers, being either veterinarians or others providing agricultural extension, to support farmers implementing enhanced management decisions

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

Veel tijd, nooit weg, een onderzoek naar aangepaste vakanties

Onderzoek in opdracht van Stichting Mens en Samenleving, die zich richt op het aanbieden van vakanties voor ouderen, gehandicapten en chronisch zoeken. SMS wil deze activiteit verbeteren en uitbreiden. Dit onderzoek analyseert: de doelgroep, de aanbieders van aangepaste vakantie, de zorg die erbij nodig is, de groen ruimte in dit verban