Consumer Perceptions and Attitudes Towards Food Safety in Portugal

The recent food crises and its great diffusion through the media had as consequence a reduction of the European consumer's confidence, in general, and of the Portuguese ones in particular, in the products that they buy and consume. These events also served to disclose some of the existing problems in the current marketing chain, in which many sectors result to have low, or no transparency or unknown ones to the consumers. For moreover, these crises had demonstrated that science and technology, in set with the governmental regulation do not offer guarantees that the risks associated with food have acceptable levels. All these questions triggered the interest of researchers to study the impact of food safety related issues on consumer behaviour. The objective of this paper is to increase knowledge on Portuguese consumer perceptions and attitudes towards food safety. Specially, consumers' level of concern about food crises, their view on the safety of several products throughout the supply chain and the assessment of different practices that may reduce food poisoning risks are here analysed. Likewise, the role of labels and the different information channels on purchasing habits are studied. Internet interviews have been used as the main source of information and have been conducted throughout Portugal and addressed to a sample of 1497 persons, representing the different geographic areas and age groups. The results indicate that, with exception of the residence place, the other socio-economic variables play an ever-decreasing role when explaining the consumer behaviour. The factors measuring lifestyle, especially those related to safety, and mainly, consumption experience, seem to be the main aspects explaining Portuguese consumers' perception on food safety. For moreover, one evidences of the reading of labels, the date of caducity is the information more consulted by the consumers, leaving of part other important food safety information and relation diet versus health, such as the instructions of storage and cooking, the nutritional value and the ingredients. In order to restore the confidence lost, an effort of diffusion of clear and truthful information is necessary, for beyond the necessity of an efficient coordination throughout all the marketing chain in order to offer food safety products.food safety, consumer behaviour, perceptions, attitudes, Portugal, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

The Montado/Dehesa Cow-Calf Production Systems in Portugal and Spain: An Economic and Resources’ Use Approach

The Montado in Portugal and Dehesa in Spain is a unique agro-silvo-pastoral system designed to overcome food needs in a scarce resource’s environment. The system competitiveness is not clear and it is now under severe threats, caused by extensification or abandonment of less fertile areas and by intensification in more fertile ones. The aim of the undertaken research is to compare the cow-calf production within these systems in Portugal and Spain, identifying their strengths and weaknesses and the main drivers of their evolution, and to compare these systems with other European countries’ systems, ranking their competitiveness and efficiency among other systems in the EU. The research indicates that Montado/Dehesa farms systems are dependent on the type of farming system, its context and management, i.e., on the decision and its context; so, in a context of Mediterranean land system changes, the future of the Montado/Dehesa ecosystem depends on the ability of the cow-calf production systems to face the future and to perceive the modifications needed to overcome new challenges and take advantage of new opportunities

Competitiveness of Portuguese Montado Ewe Production Systems among the European Ewe Production Systems

The number of ewes in Portugal registers a decrease since 1998. This decrease is felt particularly in the south of the country, which concentrates almost half of the existing ewes, mainly for meat production. One of the most important ewe production systems is the Montado, a High Nature Value ecosystem, occupying ca. 1.2 million ha in Portugal. The competitiveness of this system among the European ewe production systems is an important issue for the future of the Montado ecosystem. So, the objective of this paper is to analyze the ewe production systems in the Montado, using the agri benchmark database, and compare these systems with other European countries’ systems, ranking their competitiveness and efficiency among other systems in the European Union. We concluded that this methodology facilitated an in-depth understanding not only of the competitiveness and efficiency of ewe production systems in Portugal but also of their positioning regarding other systems in the European Union. The pattern of returns assures that these farms are competitive in the sense that they depend on the market on their decisions, and thus it is important that market values sheep products. Nevertheless, the diversification to other income sources would be a good option for the future sustainability of these farms and the opportunities and risks that these systems will deal with in a new green economy, with probable new functions and new opportunities for land, will be a challenge for the future

QUALITY, SAFETY AND CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR TOWARDS ORGANIC FOOD IN GERMANY AND PORTUGAL

The goal of this paper is to compare Portuguese and German consumer behaviour towards Organic Food Products (OFP). For this purpose, an extensive literature review on quality and food safety of organic food products was carried out and a consumer survey was implemented, with data collected by means of personal interviews in the capital cities of the two countries. The data was analysed using descriptive statistics and a comparison of Portuguese and German consumers was made with the help of chi-square tests and ANOVA. The results show positive consumer attitudes towards OFP. However, its consumption is much lower than could be expected from these attitudes. Intentions to buy OFP are quite high, suggesting that these products might obtain a substantial market share in the future. This is an encouraging sign for prospective producers of OFP, who might compensate the likely increase in unitary production costs with an increase in total production. The study presented in this paper is the result of a research project supported by the programme "CRUP - Acções Integradas Luso Alemãs 2004" in Portugal and by the programme "Des Projektbezogenen Personenaustauschs (PPP) 2004 mit Portugal" in Germany.Organic food products, consumer behaviour, Germany, Portugal.

The Montado/Dehesa cow-calf production systems in Portugal and Spain: an economic and resources’ use approach

The Montado in Portugal and Dehesa in Spain is a unique agro-silvo-pastoral system designed to overcome food needs in a scarce resource’s environment. The system competitiveness is not clear and it is now under severe threats, caused by extensification or abandonment of less fertile areas and by intensification in more fertile ones. The aim of the undertaken research is to compare the cow-calf production within these systems in Portugal and Spain, identifying their strengths and weaknesses and the main drivers of their evolution, and to compare these systems with other European countries’ systems, ranking their competitiveness and e ciency among other systems in the EU. The research indicates that Montado/Dehesa farms systems are dependent on the type of farming system, its context and management, i.e., on the decision and its context; so, in a context of Mediterranean land system changes, the future of the Montado/Dehesa ecosystem depends on the ability of the cow-calf production systems to face the future and to perceive the modifications needed to overcome new challenges and take advantage of new opportunities.Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia: UID/05183/2020; UID/04007/2020.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Coffe Value Chain in Timor-Leste

Coffee chains in Timor-Leste have many processes that go from producer to consumer, through suppliers and intermediaries in order to provide products, services and information with an increased value. The main phases of this chain have been analyzed through direct observation and interviews with key actors. The aim was to identify problems, examine the sales situation, discover opportunities, and weaknesses. There is room to increase yields and quality as well as the producers’ income through training of farmers, production and processing improvements and investmens in infrastructures. Furthermore, the improvement of market transparency is highly recommended and so is the adoption of complementary activities to improve the coffee value chain

PRICE TRANSMISSION ON THE MILK PORTUGUESE MARKET

This paper aims to analyze the milk prices transmission along the food chain in Portugal, temporally and spatially. The analysis will be carried out with feed prices, farm gate milk prices and with the index prices of package milk out of factory. The results show that the volatility on retail prices is small but after 2008 the prices outside industry show a real increase. Beside that evolution, farm gate price does not change when the price of package milk changes. In mainland, price transmission from retail to farm price does not happen but for Azores the transmission is effective. In the intensive systems, the risk to collapse is bigger than in the extensive systems, where the volatility of prices reflects the process of markets adjustment to changes in supply and demand conditions

Consumer Perceptions and Attitudes Towards Food Safety in Portugal

The recent food crises and its great diffusion through the media had as consequence a reduction of the European consumer's confidence, in general, and of the Portuguese ones in particular, in the products that they buy and consume. These events also served to disclose some of the existing problems in the current marketing chain, in which many sectors result to have low, or no transparency or unknown ones to the consumers. For moreover, these crises had demonstrated that science and technology, in set with the governmental regulation do not offer guarantees that the risks associated with food have acceptable levels. All these questions triggered the interest of researchers to study the impact of food safety related issues on consumer behaviour. The objective of this paper is to increase knowledge on Portuguese consumer perceptions and attitudes towards food safety. Specially, consumers' level of concern about food crises, their view on the safety of several products throughout the supply chain and the assessment of different practices that may reduce food poisoning risks are here analysed. Likewise, the role of labels and the different information channels on purchasing habits are studied. Internet interviews have been used as the main source of information and have been conducted throughout Portugal and addressed to a sample of 1497 persons, representing the different geographic areas and age groups. The results indicate that, with exception of the residence place, the other socio-economic variables play an ever-decreasing role when explaining the consumer behaviour. The factors measuring lifestyle, especially those related to safety, and mainly, consumption experience, seem to be the main aspects explaining Portuguese consumers' perception on food safety. For moreover, one evidences of the reading of labels, the date of caducity is the information more consulted by the consumers, leaving of part other important food safety information and relation diet versus health, such as the instructions of storage and cooking, the nutritional value and the ingredients. In order to restore the confidence lost, an effort of diffusion of clear and truthful information is necessary, for beyond the necessity of an efficient coordination throughout all the marketing chain in order to offer food safety products

A competitividade da producao de borrego no Alentejo

Available from Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia, Servico de Informacao e Documentacao, Av. D. Carlos I, 126, 1200 Lisboa / FCT - Fundação para o Ciência e a TecnologiaSIGLEPTPortuga

A Competitividade da Produção de Borrego no Alentejo

"Sem resumo feito pelo autor"; - Antes da integração de Portugal na CEE e durante as fases de ajustamento da PAC, a produção de carne de borrego foi considerada como uma de entre as potenciais actividades produtivas em que Portugal poderia ser competitivo e que, consequentemente, atenuaria descidas dos rendimentos dos agricultores portugueses e, particularmente, dos alentejanos. Com o objectivo de avaliara competitividade da produção de borrego no Alentejo, dada a sua importância nesta região, foram identificados e caracterizados cinco produtores representativos. A caracterização foi feita em função das suas disponibilidades de terra, água, mão-de-obra e tracção reflectindo o seu diferente grau de uso e combinação de recursos. As diferentes tecnologias de produção de borrego e as principais rotações culturais, bem como a produção de carne de bovino, dada a sua competição com os sistemas de produção ovinos, foram identificadas e caracterizadas em termos de recursos utilizados e produções obtidas. Modelos de programação matemática foram desenvolvidos para os cinco produtores tipo de borrego no Alentejo. Relativamente às outras metodologias de análise da competitividade, nomeadamente ao método dos orçamentos ou às técnicas estatísticas e econométricas, foi escolhida a programação matemática principalmente porque contempla os factores naturais, técnicos e institucionais e económicos, considerados determinantes da competitividade. A validação dos modelos de programação matemática dos cinco produtores tipo, feita para o ano de 1991/92, revela que de um modo geral, são representativos da situação real existente em cada uma das explorações estudadas. Primeiro efectuou-se uma análise comparativa entre os resultados globais e os valores observados nas cinco explorações. Depois, a análise incidiu sobre os resultados individuais dos modelos, nomeadamente quanto a níveis óptimos de utilização de recursos, níveis óptimos de intensidade das actividades vegetais e animais e valores duais relativos à utilização dos recursos. Alterações no padrão de produção das explorações, quer das actividades vegetais, quer das tecnologias de produção de borrego e de bovinos, não se verificaram, quando da introdução de actividades alternativas nos modelos. São a disponibilidade de recursos, o ordenamento cultural e a estrutura dos custos de cada exploração, a rendibilidade de cada tecnologia ovina e a complementaridade desta com a produção bovina, os factores da sua escolha em cada uma das explorações. A validação foi posteriormente complementada incorporando no modelo a variabilidade da produção de pastagens e forragens do Alentejo. A modelação desta variabilidade foi feita através do desenvolvimento e implementação de um modelo de programação com coeficientes input-output estocásticos, os quais representam as produções das culturas para venda e de pastagem e forragem para cada um dos produtores de borrego tipo do Alentejo. A variabilidade da produção de cada cultura destinada à venda, afecta o nível da receita e consequentemente o rendimento global de cada exploração. A variabilidade da produção de pastagens e forragens e dos subprodutos de actividades, vegetais, reflecte-se em variabilidade dos custos de produção dos alimentos para os ovinos e de necessidades adicionais de capital circulante para aquisição de alimentos concentrados. Os efeitos do risco no rendimento foram captados através da incorporação nos modelos de uma estrutura MOTAD. A análise dos planos óptimos com introdução de variabilidade da produção, revela que todos os produtores tipo tem que adquirir ao exterior alimentos concentrados para os animais em anos desfavoráveis à produção de alimentos. Tal representa, para cada produtor tipo, numa diminuição do rendimento das tecnologias de produção de borrego e consequentemente no rendimento das explorações estudadas e resulta num decréscimo nos seus níveis óptimos.No entanto, na conjuntura técnico-económica de cada exploração, todas as tecnologias são exclusiva ou predominantemente competitivas no longo prazo e asseguram uma maior estabilidade do rendimento do que as actividades vegetais, nomeadamente a produção de cereais e oleaginosas, as quais se encontram associadas a níveis elevados de risco. A avaliação dos efeitos da PAC e das orientações da componente agrícola do acordo do GATT na evolução da competitividade da produção de borrego do Alentejo é feita para três cenários alternativos. Estes cenários baseiam-se na diferença de preços entre Portugal e a Comunidade, na completa harmonização dos preços ao abrigo da Reforma da PAC e da componente agrícola do GATT, e nas evoluções previsíveis dos preços comunitários e da taxa cambial entre o Escudo e o Ecu e consequente fixação da Taxa Verde. A avaliação global dos efeitos das medidas de políticas agrícolas aplicadas nas explorações dos produtores de borrego indicam que numa situação de liberalização de mercado com total eliminação dos subsídios, verifica-se uma quebra acentuada dos rendimentos das explorações e todos os sistemas de produção de borrego perdem competitividade, mas são os únicos que são incluídos nos sistemas de exploração. No entanto, quando se simulam situações em que as novas ajudas aos cereais introduzidas com a reforma da PAC, com implicações directas ou indirectas, na produção pecuária e consideradas na totalidade para o ano 1995/96 e sem ajudas específicas para Portugal no ano 2003/4, estas vão permitir compensar a redução dos preços comunitários, principalmente no ano de 1995/96. Desta forma e apesar da forte penalização pela flutuação da taxa verde considerada, todas as tecnologias de produção de borrego mantêm a sua competitividade em termos absolutos ou relativos. Com a adopção de ajustamentos tecnológicos nos sistemas de produção de borrego, nomeadamente a introdução de tecnologias alternativas, a competitividade dos sistemas de produção de borrego pode ser mantida e até ligeiramente melhorada. Ganhos de competitividade são fundamentalmente conseguidos com as novas tecnologias de produção de borrego e de pastagens e os melhoramentos tecnológicos introduzidos na produção de alimentos utilizados nas restantes tecnologias