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European Consumers’ Perceptions and Attitudes towards Non-Thermally Processed Fruit and Vegetable Products

In order to meet the demand for high-quality fruit and vegetable (F&V) products, a wide variety of novel non-thermal processing (NTP) technologies are under development. This study used a qualitative focus group approach to investigate consumers’ perception and attitudes towards non-thermally pr...

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Autores principales: Song, Xiao, Pendenza, Paola, Díaz Navarro, María, Valderrama García, Elisa, Di Monaco, Rossella, Giacalone, Davide
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7760019/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33255640
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/foods9121732
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author Song, Xiao
Pendenza, Paola
Díaz Navarro, María
Valderrama García, Elisa
Di Monaco, Rossella
Giacalone, Davide
author_facet Song, Xiao
Pendenza, Paola
Díaz Navarro, María
Valderrama García, Elisa
Di Monaco, Rossella
Giacalone, Davide
author_sort Song, Xiao
collection PubMed
description In order to meet the demand for high-quality fruit and vegetable (F&V) products, a wide variety of novel non-thermal processing (NTP) technologies are under development. This study used a qualitative focus group approach to investigate consumers’ perception and attitudes towards non-thermally processed F&V products among young (18–30 years old) and middle-aged (45–60 y.o.) consumers across six European countries: Denmark, Germany, Italy, Serbia, Spain, and the Netherlands. Findings show that the expected benefits and social concerns are important factors which affect consumers’ attitudes toward non-thermally processed F&V. Extending shelf-life, being healthier and more nutritious, and better hygiene and safety were important benefits, whilst impacts on product quality, safety risks, higher price and environmental costs were the concerns most often mentioned by participants. However, due to a lack of knowledge and trustworthy information sources, consumers have difficulties in assessing relevant benefits and risks. Targeted communication that could explicitly and efficiently reveal benefits and risks is highly recommended to enhance consumer awareness and trust. This may especially be needed to reach middle-aged consumers who showed less confidence in NTP, compared to young consumers. Consumers from Spain, Denmark, and the Netherlands appeared more interested in consuming NTP F&V, compared to Italy, Serbia, and Germany. These findings are expected to provide recommendations to better communicate non-thermally processed F&V with consumers in the EU.
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spelling pubmed-77600192020-12-26 European Consumers’ Perceptions and Attitudes towards Non-Thermally Processed Fruit and Vegetable Products Song, Xiao Pendenza, Paola Díaz Navarro, María Valderrama García, Elisa Di Monaco, Rossella Giacalone, Davide Foods Article In order to meet the demand for high-quality fruit and vegetable (F&V) products, a wide variety of novel non-thermal processing (NTP) technologies are under development. This study used a qualitative focus group approach to investigate consumers’ perception and attitudes towards non-thermally processed F&V products among young (18–30 years old) and middle-aged (45–60 y.o.) consumers across six European countries: Denmark, Germany, Italy, Serbia, Spain, and the Netherlands. Findings show that the expected benefits and social concerns are important factors which affect consumers’ attitudes toward non-thermally processed F&V. Extending shelf-life, being healthier and more nutritious, and better hygiene and safety were important benefits, whilst impacts on product quality, safety risks, higher price and environmental costs were the concerns most often mentioned by participants. However, due to a lack of knowledge and trustworthy information sources, consumers have difficulties in assessing relevant benefits and risks. Targeted communication that could explicitly and efficiently reveal benefits and risks is highly recommended to enhance consumer awareness and trust. This may especially be needed to reach middle-aged consumers who showed less confidence in NTP, compared to young consumers. Consumers from Spain, Denmark, and the Netherlands appeared more interested in consuming NTP F&V, compared to Italy, Serbia, and Germany. These findings are expected to provide recommendations to better communicate non-thermally processed F&V with consumers in the EU. MDPI 2020-11-25 /pmc/articles/PMC7760019/ /pubmed/33255640 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/foods9121732 Text en © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Song, Xiao
Pendenza, Paola
Díaz Navarro, María
Valderrama García, Elisa
Di Monaco, Rossella
Giacalone, Davide
European Consumers’ Perceptions and Attitudes towards Non-Thermally Processed Fruit and Vegetable Products
title European Consumers’ Perceptions and Attitudes towards Non-Thermally Processed Fruit and Vegetable Products
title_full European Consumers’ Perceptions and Attitudes towards Non-Thermally Processed Fruit and Vegetable Products
title_fullStr European Consumers’ Perceptions and Attitudes towards Non-Thermally Processed Fruit and Vegetable Products
title_full_unstemmed European Consumers’ Perceptions and Attitudes towards Non-Thermally Processed Fruit and Vegetable Products
title_short European Consumers’ Perceptions and Attitudes towards Non-Thermally Processed Fruit and Vegetable Products
title_sort european consumers’ perceptions and attitudes towards non-thermally processed fruit and vegetable products
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7760019/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33255640
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/foods9121732
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