The use of blockchain technology to establish food traceability chains has the potential to provide transparent information of food stuffs along the entire supply chain and also aid in the ...documentation or even execution of official food control processes. Particularly in instances where analytical methodologies cannot provide definitive data for food control questions under study, the certificate-based approach of a traceability chain may offer a way of regulatory control for state authorities. Given the rising importance of organic produce and the high share of eggs among the organic produce in the European Union as well as the new EU regulation on organic products and labelling that came into force in 2022, we analyze here how the control of egg production type and marketing standards can be represented within a blockchain-based traceability chain such as to maximize the traceability in compliance with the current relevant EU regulations. Intended for the use by the official food control authorities, a traceability chain for organically produced eggs in the EU would need to be implemented as a permissioned blockchain, since only select entities are allowed to participate. By combining a proof of authority consensus mechanism with issuance of soulbound tokens, we effectively suggest a 'proof of soulbound authority' consensus process. The soulbound tokens are issued throughout the administrative chain from the European Commission down to the official food control authorities in individual member states that ultimately certify the control bodies for organic produce. Despite the general limitation of not providing unambiguous proof of the organic status of individual products, the concept discussed here offers advantages with respect to allocation of authority at EU level and therefore might have positive effects beyond the traceability chain.
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Support for organic farming is a promising policy for improving sustainability in the food sector. Further consumer demand, however, is hindered by high prices. We review research from 2000 to 2014 ...on the role of perceived price, income, price knowledge, willingness to pay, and reactions to price changes on organic food. We find that price is the major perceived barrier to purchase. Income is only a partial explanatory factor and is superseded by psychographic variables. Willingness to pay a premium is around 30% (ranging from 0% to 105%) and depends on consumer segments and product category. Price knowledge is vague, and organic consumers' price sensitivity is relatively lower than that of occasional or nonorganic consumers. The results suggest that further market differentiation in terms of organic consumer segments and food categories is necessary. Furthermore, we discuss detailed implications for public policy and practice and present a future research agenda.
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BFBNIB, DOBA, FZAB, GIS, IJS, IZUM, KILJ, NLZOH, NMLJ, NUK, OILJ, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
When someone decides to buy organic food products trust plays a role. Consumers, in fact, are neither supposed to have the appropriate knowledge to evaluate the characteristics of these products, nor ...can they control that the food was actually manufactured following the procedures prescribed by organic production. Therefore, trust may contribute to the explanation of both purchasing intention and behavior since it represents a heuristic or shortcut that people adopt in order to reduce the large amount of information that consumers need to take into account. The present research aimed to analyze the role of trust in organic products on buying behavior adopting the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) as theoretical framework. A relational model was tested in which this variable was supposed to act as a background factor associated with all the classical constructs foreseen by the theory and the buying behavior. Also, indirect effects of trust on both intention and behavior were assessed. Two studies were conducted targeting the purchase of organic food products in general (Study 1) and of fresh organic fruit and vegetables (Study 2). In both studies, the data collection was organized in two waves, with a time lag of 1 month. At Time 1, the questionnaires included measures of intention, its antecedents and trust, while at Time 2 self-reported buying behavior was collected. Data were supplied by two convenience samples of Italian adults (237 and 227 participants) and analyzed via structural equation modeling. Results turned out to be overlapping in both studies, since trust was positively associated with attitude and subjective norm, and it was indirectly associated with intention and behavior, thanks to the mediation of the TPB constructs. The outcomes highlighted the importance of people’s trust in organic products as a meaningful antecedent that boosts the TPB-based psychosocial processes that are supposed to stand behind both purchasing intentions and behaviors.
This article explores consumers’ attitude toward and purchase intention of organic food regarding the influence of the framing effect and anchoring effect and the role of knowledge. Our findings ...suggest that whether message framing describes the benefits of buying organic food or the loss resulting from a failure to buy organic food, significantly influences consumers’ attitude and purchase intention. In addition, presenting an anchor price in advertisements also significantly influences consumers’ judgment. These results indicate that a negatively framed message induces a more favorable attitude and purchase intention than a positively framed message, a low anchor price is more favorable than a high one, and the interaction effect of framing and anchoring is not significant at the 1% level. Finally, consumers with less organic food knowledge are more susceptible to framing and anchoring effects. These results provide suggestions for appropriate message framing and price anchoring to enhance consumption within the organic industry.
An increasing number of countries are implementing taxes on unhealthy foods and drinks to address the growing burden of dietary-related disease, but the cost-effectiveness of combining taxes on ...unhealthy foods and subsidies on healthy foods is not well understood.
Using a population model of dietary-related diseases and health care costs and food price elasticities, we simulated the effect of taxes on saturated fat, salt, sugar, and sugar-sweetened beverages and a subsidy on fruits and vegetables, over the lifetime of the Australian population. The sizes of the taxes and subsidy were set such that, when combined as a package, there would be a negligible effect on average weekly expenditure on food (<1% change). We evaluated the cost-effectiveness of the interventions individually, then determined the optimal combination based on maximising net monetary benefit at a threshold of AU$50,000 per disability-adjusted life year (DALY). The simulations suggested that the combination of taxes and subsidy might avert as many as 470,000 DALYs (95% uncertainty interval UI: 420,000 to 510,000) in the Australian population of 22 million, with a net cost-saving of AU$3.4 billion (95% UI: AU$2.4 billion to AU$4.6 billion; US$2.3 billion) to the health sector. Of the taxes evaluated, the sugar tax produced the biggest estimates of health gain (270,000 95% UI: 250,000 to 290,000 DALYs averted), followed by the salt tax (130,000 95% UI: 120,000 to 140,000 DALYs), the saturated fat tax (97,000 95% UI: 77,000 to 120,000 DALYs), and the sugar-sweetened beverage tax (12,000 95% UI: 2,100 to 21,000 DALYs). The fruit and vegetable subsidy (-13,000 95% UI: -44,000 to 18,000 DALYs) was a cost-effective addition to the package of taxes. However, it did not necessarily lead to a net health benefit for the population when modelled as an intervention on its own, because of the possible adverse cross-price elasticity effects on consumption of other foods (e.g., foods high in saturated fat and salt). The study suggests that taxes and subsidies on foods and beverages can potentially be combined to achieve substantial improvements in population health and cost-savings to the health sector. However, the magnitude of health benefits is sensitive to measures of price elasticity, and further work is needed to incorporate potential benefits or harms associated with changes in other foods and nutrients that are not currently modelled, such as red and processed meats and fibre.
With potentially large health benefits for the Australian population and large benefits in reducing health sector spending on the treatment of non-communicable diseases, the formulation of a tax and subsidy package should be given a more prominent role in Australia's public health nutrition strategy.
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Organic agriculture promotes the transformation toward sustainability because of positive effects for the environment. The organic label on food products enables consumers to make more sustainable ...purchasing decisions. Although the global market for organic food has grown rapidly in recent years, only a part of the organic product range benefits from this positive trend. To develop the organic market further, it is important to understand the food-related values and attitudes that drive the purchase of organic food. Previous research on this topic has suffered from two main weaknesses. Firstly, most studies have been based on surveys and rely on stated behavior instead of actual purchase behavior. Secondly, the focus of most extant studies is predominantly on organic food in general or on food products with a relatively high organic market share, such as milk and eggs. To address this knowledge gap, the present study analyzes the value-attitude-behavior relationship by means of structural equation modeling using household purchase panel data from GfK. The paper provides evidence for the existence of an attitude-behavior gap in the organic market, with this gap found to be much stronger in the case of meat, frozen food, cheese, and sweets than for organic purchases in total. Analysis in different product categories reveals that while purchase behavior is driven by the same food-related values, their relative importance differs.
In this engaging inquiry, originally published in 1989 and now fully updated for the twenty-first century, Warren J. Belasco considers the rise of the countercuisine in the 1960s, the subsequent ...success of mainstream businesses in turning granola, herbal tea, and other revolutionary foodstuffs into profitable products; the popularity of vegetarian and vegan diets; and the increasing availability of organic foods. From reviews of the previous edition: Although Red Zinger never became our national drink, food and eating changed in America as a result of the social revolution of the 1960s. According to Warren Belasco, there was political ferment at the dinner table as well as in the streets. In this lively and intelligent mixture of narrative history and cultural analysis, Belasco argues that middle-class America eats differently today than in the 1950 because of the way the counterculture raised the national consciousness about food.—Joan Jacobs Brumberg, The Nation This book documents not only how cultural rebels created a new set of foodways, brown rice and all, but also how American capitalists commercialized these innovations to their own economic advantage. Along the way, the author discusses the significant relationship between the rise of a 'countercuisine' and feminism, environmentalism, organic agriculture, health consciousness, the popularity of ethnic cuisine, radical economic theory, granola bars, and Natural Lite Beer. Never has history been such a good read!— The Digest: A Review for the Interdisciplinary Study of Food Now comes an examination of... the sweeping change in American eating habits ushered in by hippiedom in rebellion against middle-class America... Appetite for Change tells how the food industry co-opted the health-food craze, discussing such hip capitalists as the founder of Celestial Seasonings teas; the rise of health-food cookbooks; how ethnic cuisine came to enjoy new popularity; and how watchdog agencies like the FDA served, arguably, more often as sleeping dogs than as vigilant ones.— Publishers Weekly A challenging and sparkling book... In Belasco's analysis, the ideology of an alternative cuisine was the most radical thrust of the entire counterculture and the one carrying the most realistic and urgently necessary blueprint for structural social change.— Food and Foodways Here is meat, or perhaps miso, for those who want an overview of the social and economic forces behind the changes in our food supply... This is a thought-provoking and pioneering examination of recent events that are still very much part of the present.— Tufts University Diet and Nutrition Letter In this engaging inquiry, originally published in 1989 and now fully updated for the twenty-first century, Warren J. Belasco considers the rise of the countercuisine in the 1960s, the subsequent success of mainstream businesses in turning granola, herbal tea, and other revolutionary foodstuffs into profitable products; the popularity of vegetarian and vegan diets; and the increasing availability of organic foods. From reviews of the previous edition: Although Red Zinger never became our national drink, food and eating changed in America as a result of the social revolution of the 1960s. According to Warren Belasco, there was political ferment at the dinner table as well as in the streets. In this lively and intelligent mixture of narrative history and cultural analysis, Belasco argues that middle-class America eats differently today than in the 1950 because of the way the counterculture raised the national consciousness about food.—Joan Jacobs Brumberg, The Nation This book documents not only how cultural rebels created a new set of foodways, brown rice and all, but also how American capitalists commercialized these innovations to their own economic advantage. Along the way, the author discusses the significant relationship between the rise of a 'countercuisine' and feminism, environmentalism, organic agriculture, health consciousness, the popularity of ethnic cuisine, radical economic theory, granola bars, and Natural Lite Beer. Never has history been such a good read!—The Digest: A Review for the Interdisciplinary Study of Food Now comes an examination of... the sweeping change in American eating habits ushered in by hippiedom in rebellion against middle-class America... Appetite for Change tells how the food industry co-opted the health-food craze, discussing such hip capitalists as the founder of Celestial Seasonings teas; the rise of health-food cookbooks; how ethnic cuisine came to enjoy new popularity; and how watchdog agencies like the FDA served, arguably, more often as sleeping dogs than as vigilant ones.—Publishers Weekly A challenging and sparkling book... In Belasco's analysis, the ideology of an alternative cuisine was the most radical thrust of the entire counterculture and the one carrying the most realistic and urgently necessary blueprint for structural social change.—Food and Foodways Here is meat, or perhaps miso, for those who want an overview of the social and economic forces behind the changes in our food supply... This is a thought-provoking and pioneering examination of recent events that are still very much part of the present.—Tufts University Diet and Nutrition Letter
Consumers perceive organic foods as more nutritious, natural, and environmentally friendly than non-organic or conventional foods. Since organic foods developed, studies on consumer behavior and ...organic foods have contributed significantly to its development. The presesent study aims to identify the factors affecting consumer buying behaviour toward organic foods in the United States. Survey data are collected from 770 consumers in the Midwest, United States. ANOVA, multiple linear regression, factor analysis, independent t-tests, and hierarchical multiple regression analysis are used to analyze the collected primary data. This research confirms health consciousness, consumer knowledge, perceived or subjective norms, and perception of price influence consumers' attitudes toward buying organic foods. Availability is another factor that affected the purchase intentions of consumers. Age, education, and income are demographic factors that also impact consumers' buying behavior. The findings help marketers of organic foods design strategies to succeed in the US's fast-growing organic foods market.
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We draw on outstanding recent research to substantiate factors driving pro-environmental food purchasing behavior. Throwing light on purchasing behavior for environmentally sustainable foods, our ...study highlights the relevance of consumer trust and motivations in organic product markets together with individuals' perceived value and willingness to buy such items throughout the choice behavior and decision-making process. Our findings prove that most aspects influencing consumers' attitudes for and choices of organic foods are related to their trust and perceptions of the nutritional benefits such products provide. The insights gained from our research extend present knowledge concerning consumer behavior and purchase intention for environmentally sustainable products. The chief gaps and issues identified by the review cover the variety of organic food consumer purchase intentions and behaviors, including the relative environmental performance of organic food production and the link between the motivational values and attitudes concerning the consumption of non-chemical products. Apart from sustainable agriculture and upsides of organic farming, the main disadvantages are as follows: recycling and aligning with natural operations does not necessitate chemical inputs, but organic food is more prohibitive as farmers do not obtain significant crop productivity out of their land, while organic goods may have a price of up to 40% more (production expenses are steeper because farmers demand more labor force), marketing and distribution are not streamlined as organic products are delivered in diminished volumes, food disorders may occur more frequent, and chemical-free agriculture cannot produce sufficient nutrients that the world's population requires to live on.
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