Comparing a product-specific versus a general emoji list to measure consumers’ emotional associations with chocolate and predict food choice

Emoji have been proposed as a way to get additional insights in how consumers perceive food products. Recent works have indicated that emoji are able to provide distinctive emotional associations with food products, regardless of whether one is using the check-all-that-apply (CATA) or the rate-all-that-apply (RATA) scaling approach. Typically, in examining emotional associations one can work with either a general list which can be used with all food products or a product-specific emotion list. To date, a comparison between the performance of a general and product-specific emoji list with adults is lacking. Moreover, it is unclear to which extent emotional data of emoji help to better predict the actual food choice of adult consumers. Using five samples of chocolates, this study compared the use of a general list of 39 emoji with a product-specific list of 20 emoji (based upon input of 32 consumers). In total, 138 consumers assessed the samples using the general list while 136 consumers evaluated the samples with the product-specific emoji list. The RATA approach was used for the evaluation of the samples and the actual food choice was registered as participants received a snack portion of the chosen sample to take home. Results indicated that, considering the frequency of selection, 10 emoji discriminated between the samples for both the general and product-specific lists. Similar results were obtained when considering the rating intensities. Including emoji did not lead to a significant increase in the food choice prediction regardless the type of list used. However, emoji data obtained from the product-specific emoji list was able to predict the food choice as accurate as the liking data when using the RATA intensity scores. This study suggests that both general and product-specific emoji lists are able to generate distinguishing emotional profiles for chocolate samples. While further research is necessary with other food products and measurement methods (e.g. CATA), this study proposes that emoji measurements might be an alternative to liking data in order to be better understand of consumers’ food choice.acceptedVersio

Guideline for harmonisation of measures and protocols related to consumer behaviour as an outcome. D4.4

publishedVersio

My style, my food, my waste! Consumer food waste-related lifestyle segments

Adapting responsible food marketing practices to different customer types can make a valuable contribution to reducing food waste. The current study investigated the relation between food (waste)-related lifestyle patterns and self-reported food waste, choices for suboptimal food, and food waste awareness using a survey with 4214 consumers across five Northern and Western European countries. Results show differences in food wastage, suboptimal choices, and awareness for five clusters of consumers identified on the basis of food (waste)-related lifestyle patterns. Findings of commonalities allow deriving general food marketing actions targeted to these different consumer lifestyles.submittedVersio

Need to Change, Want to Change, or Hard to Change? Targeting three dinner food waste profiles with regard to attitudes and personality traits

In 2015, the United Nations’ sustainable development sub-goal 12.3 called for halving food waste per capita by 2030. In Norway, dinner leftovers are the largest consumer food waste category, particularly in households with children. To reduce household food waste, we hypothesised that different strategies for different consumer profiles are necessary and aimed to document self-reported food waste in relation to consumers' attitudes and personalities. In a survey, 333 consumers with children reported their perceived dinner waste (PDW). In addition, we collected the respondents’ attitudes towards food waste, as well as their environmental awareness and personality traits in order to classify them into three previously identified personality-environmental awareness segments. Our results show that Need to Change consumers (30%), characterized by Emotional Control and Openness to Experience, reported the highest PDW and showed reluctance to reduce food waste, making them a key target for interventions. Want to Change consumers (54%) reported the lowest PDW and showed high motivation to reduce food waste, but a further reduction from this segment would have less societal impact. Hard to Change consumers (15%), characterized by Conscientiousness, Agreeableness, and low Openness to Experiences, reported medium PDW. Engaging this segment could have a moderate impact, but they might be harder to reach. Our findings support the idea that environmental awareness and personality traits should be taken into consideration when developing strategies to reduce household food waste. Targeted intervention recommendations to reach each profile are derived.publishedVersio

Basic taste sensitivity, eating behaviour, and propensity of dairy foods of preadolescent children: How are they related?

Background: Taste sensitivity has been reported to influence children’s eating behaviour and contribute to their food preferences and intake. This study aimed to investigate the associations between taste sensitivity and eating behaviour in preadolescents. Methods: Children’s taste sensitivity was measured by detection threshold with five different concentration levels of sweetness (sucrose), sourness (citric acid), saltiness (sodium chloride), bitterness (caffeine, quinine), and umami (monosodium glutamate). In addition, the Child Eating Behaviour Questionnaire (CEBQ), the Food Propensity Questionnaire (FPQ), and the children’s body weight and height were completed by the parents. Children conducted the sensory evaluation test at schools while parents completed the questionnaires online. Results: A total of 69 child-parent dyads participated. Taste sensitivity was significantly associated with eating behaviour in food responsiveness, emotional overeating, and desire to drink. Children who were less sensitive to caffeine bitterness (higher detection threshold) had higher food responsiveness scores, while those who were less sensitive to sweetness and caffeine bitterness had higher emotional overeating scores. In addition, children who were less sensitive to sourness and bitterness of both caffeine and quinine demonstrated to have higher scores in desire to drink. There was no association between taste sensitivity and FPQ, but significant differences were observed across children’s body mass index (BMI) regarding their FPQ of dairy food items, indicating higher consumption of low-fat milk in the overweight/obese compared to the normal-weight subjects. There was no significant difference in taste sensitivity according to BMI. Children’s eating behaviour differed across BMI, demonstrating a positive association between BMI and food approach, and a negative association between BMI and food avoidance. Conclusions: This study contributes to the preliminary understanding of the relationships between taste sensitivity and eating behaviour in preadolescents which could be used to develop effective strategies to promote healthy eating practices in children by considering their taste sensitivity.publishedVersio

Taste perception and oral microbiota: recent advances and future perspectives

acceptedVersio

Safe week, unsafe weekend? Consumers’ self-reported food safety practices and stomach sickness in cabin environments of varying infrastructure levels

Food poisoning is a threat to health and economy across regions and living standards, with an estimated 600 million cases worldwide every year. In consumer households, water and electricity facilities are key to safe food preparation and storage. However, recreational home environments may be of lower standard and expose dwellers to higher risk of foodborne illness. The aim of this study was to assess risk behaviours in Norwegian cabin kitchens in relation to the level of cabin infrastructure and compared to home practices. Cabin dwellers (N = 339) answered an online questionnaire about infrastructure, appliances, cleaning routines, and food habits at the cabin and at home. Correspondence analysis was used to define three cabin types of low (16%), medium (31%) and high (53%) infrastructure. The cabin types were compared to one another as well as to home in terms of cabin visit frequency and length, kitchen equipment, cleaning practices, food consumption, and incidence of stomach sickness. Consumer practices were evaluated for their impact on potential exposure to foodborne pathogens in light of the food safety situation and recommendations in Norway. Large variations in cabin kitchen equipment were found, where 35% of the respondents did not have running water in the kitchen and 18% did not have a refrigerator. The lack of running water and/or electrical appliances in cabins appeared to lead to adaptive consumer practices regarding hygiene routines (e.g., more hand disinfectant). Food consumption differed from home towards safer choices in all cabin types (e.g., less raw chicken and more canned foods). The estimated incidence rate of stomach sickness was of 4‰ occurrences per day at the cabin. Across cabin types, the incidence rate was 4.0 times larger in low-infrastructure cabins and 3.1 times larger in medium-infrastructure cabins compared to high-infrastructure cabins. The results uncover a need for information campaigns on the elevated risk for foodborne illness in cabin environments and how consumers should change practices to reduce the risk.publishedVersio

Kitchen cloths: Consumer practices, drying properties and bacterial growth and survival

Kitchen cloths have an important role in maintaining kitchen surfaces hygienically clean but may also act as vehicles for cross contamination of pathogens from food spills to hands and other foods. The aim of the present study was to map consumer practices across Europe and identify main factors that may contribute to unsafe use of kitchen cloths, such as type of cloth and storage practices. Consumer practices related to cloths were investigated in a web-based survey (N = 2394), while drying properties and growth and survival of Salmonella, Campylobacter and non-pathogenic food associated bacteria in inoculated cloths were studied in laboratory tests mimicking consumer practices. Among consumers in six European countries, cotton and microfiber cloths were reported to be the most used cloth types for cleaning food preparation areas and wiping up spills. . Fifty-seven percent of the consumers reportedly hang the cloth to dry after use. A large majority (72%) changed their cloths at regular times, with an average reported frequency of every 6 days. Large variations in water absorption (63–201 g) and drying rate (31.8–99.8% water loss after 4.5 h) among 17 types of commercially available cloths were found. Hanged up cloths dried faster than cloths stored crumpled as balls. Salmonella multiplied in all types of new cloths that were not hung to dry (crumpled), but about 3 log reduction or more were found after hanging cloths to dry for 24 h. For cloths collected from consumers, growth of inoculated Salmonella was not observed, but hanging the cloths resulted in more than 3 log reduction in numbers. A large variation in survival of Campylobacter was found depending on the type of cloth, but more than 5 log reduction was found after 24 h in all hanging cloths. A polypropylene and a viscose cloth with low water uptake and fast drying appeared to be the safest choice with a rapid reduction of both pathogens when hung (respectively 2 log and >6 log reduction for Salmonella and Campylobacter after 4.5 h) and reduction of Campylobacter when stored crumpled. The least safe cloth regarding pathogen growth and survival was a knitted cotton cloth with high water uptake and slow drying. There was no systematic difference in growth and survival of bacteria between microfiber cloths and cloths of other materials, nor between cloths with and without antimicrobial compounds. The present study shows that 16% of consumers have practices that would allow pathogens to contaminate, grow and survive in cloths until the next use. Touching and using these cloths can lead to contamination of hands and food contact surfaces, and potentially to ingestion of pathogens. Consumers should be advised to change cloths after using them for meat spills, but also to choose cloths that dry fast and keep them hanging to dry between use.publishedVersio

Are school meals a viable and sustainable tool to improve the healthiness and sustainability of children´s diet and food consumption? A cross-national comparative perspective

There is little agreement among governments, institutions, scientists and food activists as to how to best tackle the challenging issues of health and sustainability in the food sector. This essay discusses the potential of school meals as a platform to promote healthy and sustainable food behavior. School meal programs are of particular interest for improving public diet because they reach children at a population scale across socio-economic classes and for over a decade of their lives, and because food habits of children are more malleable than those of adults. Current research on the history and health implications of school meal programs is reviewed in a cross-national comparative framework, and arguments explored that speak for the need of a new developmental phase of school meals as an integrative learning platform for healthy and sustainable food behavior. Nutritional, social, practical, educational, economical, political, and cultural perspectives and challenges linked to the implementation of healthy and sustainable school meals are discussed. Finally, the need for long-term interventions and evaluations is highlighted and new research directions are proposed