Food retailers can be reluctant to initiate healthy food retail activities in the face of a complex set of interrelated drivers that impact the retail environment. The Systems Thinking Approach for ...Retail Transformation (START) is a determinants framework created using qualitative systems modelling to guide healthy food retail interventions in community-based, health-promoting settings. We aimed to test the applicability of the START map to a suite of distinct healthy food marketing and promotion activities that formed an intervention in a grocery setting in regional Victoria, Australia.
A secondary analysis was undertaken of 16 previously completed semi-structured interviews with independent grocery retailers and stakeholders. Interviews were deductively coded against the existing START framework, whilst allowing for new grocery-setting specific factors to be identified. New factors and relationships were used to build causal loop diagrams and extend the original START systems map using Vensim.
A version of the START map including aspects relevant to the grocery setting was developed ("START-G"). In both health-promoting and grocery settings, it was important for retailers to 'Get Started' with healthy food retail interventions that were supported by a proof-of-concept and 'Focus on the customer' response (with grocery-settings focused on monitoring sales data). New factors and relationships described perceived difficulties associated with disrupting a grocery-setting 'Supply-side status quo' that promotes less healthy food and beverage options. Yet, most grocery retailers discussed relationships that highlighted the potential for 'Healthy food as innovation' and 'Supporting cultural change through corporate social responsibility and leadership'.
Several differences were found when implementing healthy food retail in grocery compared to health promotion settings. The START-G map offers preliminary guidance for identifying and addressing commercial interests in grocery settings that currently promote less healthy foods and beverages, including by starting to address business outcomes and supplier relationships.
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Utilizing innovative agricultural practices that enhance the nutritional quality of staple foods such as potatoes provides farmers with tools to successfully meet the challenges of feeding a rising ...global population while sustaining organic food production. In the present study, we have demonstrated the potential of white mustard (Sinapis alba) seed meal extract to improve potato nutritional properties. Sinapis alba extract is a low-cost by-product of mustard oil extraction that contains a relatively high concentration of biologically active compounds. When applied to soil, S. alba extract had a positive impact on nutritional quality of potatoes. For example, total phenolic content in potatoes treated with S. alba extract increased by ~1.5 times, and potato nitrogen content increased from 1.52% to 1.73% with one application of S. alba extract. At the same time, application of S. alba extract had limited impact on the accumulation of anti-nutrients such as glycoalkaloids in potato tubers. The ability to boost the phenolics content of potatoes by applying an organic amendment is a valuable tool in organic farming as it creates more nutritional crop. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to examine the effect of S. alba extract on the nutritional quality of potatoes, or indeed of any food crop.
This paper presents a qualitative study on the organic discourse from the perspectives of consumers in the Czech Republic. The main aim of the paper is to identify partial discourses among consumers ...in the Czech Republic within the framework of a communication "concourse" on organic farming as one of the sustainable initiatives within the context of the Organic 3.0 concept. The paper is based on Q methodology with 44 final statements which represent current respondents' discourses (perspectives) on the organic sector. Results reveal that Czech organic consumers could be divided into 3 specific groups - "Convinced organic globalists", "Modest organic localists" and "Convinced organic rationalists". The first group of consumers is convinced of the importance of organic farming at a global level and they emphasise the global economic importance of organic farming. The second group are protagonists of organic farming, despite seeing its shortcomings. In the terms of preferences, they rather prefer local food with regard to sustainability than organic food. The third group is characterised by a rationally economic view of organic farming. They see the barrier to further expansion of organic farming in economic factors, such as the price of organic food. The identified barriers of economic rationality and competition of local production are challenges to the future development of the organic sector and its position among other sustainable initiatives. The results also provide better insights into Czech organic consumers' discourse and their perception of the Organic 3.0 concept.
Shifting the food system to a more sustainable one requires changes on both sides of the supply chain, with the consumer playing a key role. Therefore, understanding the factors that positively ...correlate with increased organic food sales over time for an entire population can help guide policymakers, industry, and research to increase this transition further. Using a statistical approach, we developed a spatial pooled cross-sectional model to analyze factors that positively correlate with an increased demand for organic food sales over 20 years (1999-2019) for an entire region (the city-state of Hamburg, Germany), accounting for spatial effects through the spatial error model, spatially lagged X model, and spatial Durbin error model. The results indicated that voting behavior strongly correlated with increased organic food sales over time. Specifically, areas with a higher number of residents that voted for a political party with a core focus on environmental issues, the Greens and the Left Party in Germany. However, there is a stronger connection with the more "radical" Left Party than with the "mainstream" Green Party, which may provide evidence for the attitude-behavior gap, as Left Party supporters are very convinced of their attitudes (pro-environment) and behavior thus follows. By including time and space, this analysis is the first to summarize developments over time for a metropolitan population while accounting for spatial effects and identifying areas for targeted marketing that need further motivation to increase organic food sales.
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Organic food has gained much importance due to consumers' rising environmental and health concerns. Purchase intention of organic food has been explored widely, but the repurchase intention of ...organic food has gained little attention among researchers. So, it has become important to explore repurchase intention among generation Z; a generation considered more educated and aware of rising environmental concerns. Generation Z is more tech-savvy and brand conscious, so its impact on repurchase intention through consumer satisfaction has been explored. The data in this paper was collected from 400 respondents through a structured questionnaire in Islamabad, Pakistan. We used the PLS-SEM approach for data analysis and results; we found that social media influence and brand purchase impact brand awareness and positively impact brand awareness on consumer satisfaction. Moreover, it is also found that consumer satisfaction positively impacts the repurchase intention of organic food. Our study found that Generation Z has a strong social media influence, so marketers' managers must consider and address the issues when consumers consider social media for their concerns and suggestion.
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During food animal production, animals are exposed to, colonized by, and sometimes infected with bacteria that may contaminate animal products with susceptible and multidrug-resistant organisms ...(MDRO). The United States' Organic Foods Production Act resulted in decreased antibiotic use in some animal production operations. Some studies have reported that decreased antibiotic use is associated with reduced MDRO on meat.
The aim of this study was to investigate associations of meat production and processing methods with MDRO and overall bacterial contamination of retail meats.
Bacterial contamination data from 2012 to 2017 for chicken breast, ground beef, ground turkey, and pork chops were downloaded from the National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System. Poisson regression models with robust variance were used to estimate associations with MDRO contamination and any contamination (adjusted for year and meat type) overall, and according to bacteria genus (
,
,
,
) and meat type.
A total of 39,349 retail meat samples were linked to 216 conventional, 123 split (conventional and organic), and three organic processing facilities. MDRO contamination was similar in conventionally produced meats processed at split vs. conventional facilities but was significantly lower in organically produced meats processed at split facilities
; 95% CI: 0.30, 0.63. Meat processed by split vs. conventional processors had higher or similar MDRO contamination for all tested bacterial genera except
(
; 95% CI: 0.13, 0.64). The prevalence of any contamination was lower in samples processed at split vs. conventional facilities for aggregated samples (
; 95% CI: 0.68, 0.73) and all meat types and bacterial genera.
Organically produced and processed retail meat samples had a significantly lower prevalence of MDRO than conventionally produced and processed samples had, whereas meat from split processors had a lower prevalence of any contamination than samples from conventional processors had. Additional studies are needed to confirm findings and clarify specific production and processing practices that might explain them. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP7327.
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In the 1960s and early 1970s, countercultural rebels decided that, rather than confront the system, they would create the world they wanted. The natural foods movement grew out of this contrarian ...spirit. Through a politics of principled shopping, eating, and entrepreneurship, food revolutionaries dissented from corporate capitalism and mainstream America.
In Food for Dissent, Maria McGrath traces the growth of the natural foods movement from its countercultural fringe beginning to its twenty-first-century "food revolution" ascendance, focusing on popular natural foods touchstones -- vegetarian cookbooks, food co-ops, and health advocates. Guided by an ideology of ethical consumption, these institutions and actors spread the movement's oppositionality and transformed America's foodscape, at least for some. Yet this strategy proved an uncertain instrument for the advancement of social justice, environmental defense, and anti-corporatism. The case studies explored in Food for Dissent indicate the limits of using conscientious eating, shopping, and selling as tools for civic activism.
This book represents a unique collection of European and Asian perspectives on the production, trade and consumption of high quality food. The rapidly growing demand for organic and quality food in ...Europe imposes new challenges on competing food value chains. Europe, as the biggest worldwide food importer, attracts many developing and developed countries in Asia. Prospering Chinese and Thai food markets offer new opportunities for European operators. Wealthy and informed consumers on both continents search for trustworthy high quality food products. Farmers, operators and retailers from distant cultures are coping with different standards, facing the ever increasing necessity for mutual understanding. This publication is the output of Bean-Quorum, a European funded Asia-Link project. Bean-Quorum represents a consolidated network of researchers working together with the business sector and NGOs to enhance European Asian understanding about organic and quality food. This book describes global trends in organic and quality food trade and connects them with recent developments in Asian and European market structures. Selected case studies illustrate the impact of organic and quality food production on topics ranging from sustainable rural development, to the potential of exotic new plant varieties to purchase decisions of European or Asian retail managers. Selected European markets are mirrored by the situation in Chinese and Thai markets. Finally, environmental issues concerning global trade of quality food are addressed.
Consumers’ interest in organic food has increased over time and this has resulted in a generally positive attitude towards organic food products. The main reasons behind these findings are that ...consumers generally perceive organic foods as more nutritious and healthier than non-organic foods. Recently, consumers’ concerns about the environment and animal welfare have become part of the main drivers. Hence, this paper investigated the association between stimulus factors, perceived values (health value, environmental value, animal welfare and food safety) and consumers’ organic purchasing behaviour using the Stimulus-Organism-Response (SOR) theoretical model. Also, the relationship between socio-demographic characteristics and purchasing behaviour has been discussed. Data were collected via an online questionnaire from 330 organic food consumers who live in different cities in Turkey. The collected data were analysed using SPSS and SmartPLS 3. Marital status, education employment status and age were significantly related to consumer purchasing behaviour, while gender, income and chronic disease did not influence the actual buying of organic foods. Benefits of consuming organic foods, sustainable consumption attitudes and positive moral attitudes significantly affected perceived values (health value, environment value, animal welfare and food safety). Perceived values did not have a significant effect on consumer purchasing behaviour. This research allows for a better comprehension of consumers’ buying behaviour towards organic food products, which will be helpful for organic sellers in terms of developing strategies and growing the organic food market.