Food and Consumer

1
Food and Consumer
Health
Safety
Food consumer
Sustainability
Chain mgmt
Hans van Trijp
Food qual manuf.

• European food industry 2020
• responsive to consumer needs and preferences
  ? differentiated and cross-culturally sensitive
• consumer (re-) connect through active
  participation ? transparency, trust and
  confidence
• balanced towards health and sustainability ?
  corporate social responsibility
• through added value products ? instead of
  commodities

2
Food and Consumer
Health
Safety
Food consumer
Sustainability
Chain mgmt

• Core challenge
• Develop consumer science capabilities in
• measurement of food consumer (behaviour)
  valid in cross-cultural context
• understanding underlying choice processes
  from an integration of disciplines (e.g.
  psychology, sociology, ethics, sensory, cultural,
  biological, economics)
• effective interaction with consumers and
  consumer groups through communication and
  public participation
• strategies to induce behavioural change to
  improve health and social responsibility
• Specific research topics have been defined under
  each of these heading

Food qual manuf.
3
Specific projects (examples)
Health
Safety
Food consumer
Sustainability
Chain mgmt
Food qual manuf.

• Understanding
• Integrate disciplinary perspectives into
  integrated pan-European consumer science
  resource
• Multidisciplinary and cross-cultural analysis of
  consumer behaviour of specific subpopulations
  in Europe (e.g. children, adolescents, elderly)
• Develop pan-European consumer research
  infrastructure
• Understand trade offs between personal and
  societal consumer motivations

• Observing
• cross cultural validity and sensitivity of
  methodology to quantify food related concepts
  across Europe
• mapping European food cultures from large scale
  purchase and consumption data

• Interacting
• develop and test models and practices for
  consumer information and education
• better tools and messages for effective
  communication with consumer
• models and methods for effective public
  participation and engagement

• Inducing behavioural change
• develop and test interventions aimed at inducing
  long-term behavioural change
• foresight with regard to emerging needs in
  consumer behaviour

4
Participants 02-02-2006 Klaus Grunert Wim
Verbeke Declan O Brien Henrike Boerman Liisa
Lahteenmaki Mario Mazzocchi Richard
Shepherd Patrick Etievant Fiorella Sinesio France
Caillavet Ingemar Pongratz Laura
Fernandez Jacques Viaene George
Chryssochoidis Michele Sadler Einar Risvik
5
Content and amendments

• Relationship between humans and biology
• Biological drivers of consumption Nutrigenomics
  (page 2 and 3)
• Messages not always homognious sometimes
  contradictory
• Look for simple messages, but scientifcally
  correct
• Subpolpoluations (different ages)
• Evolutionary psychology

6

• Subpopulations(low income, low education,
  poverty, crosslinks)
• Target audiances(balance between costs and
  differentiation)
• Knowledge transfer to researchers nurture
  foodscientists
• share best practice

7

• Modivate consumers, both taxes and rewards
• Genetic disposition,
• discreapancy between intention of consumers and
  actual behaviour
• Influence of retailers on consumer behavior, link
  data bases of actual purchase pattern
• Page 5 health status a determinatnt of food
  choices, data collection, dietary choices ,
  modelling (as driver of choices)
• Page 7 interaction between other lifestyle
  factors, add e.g physical activity, exposure to
  environmaental risks, smoking

8
Biological and sensory factor should play a
bigger role Linking to genetic information, Look
at brain funtions Possible synergies between this
area and Food and Health scetion (data
share) Look at the formation of prefernences at
critical stages in lifee.g in childhood, adults
and elderly
9
Discussion in the group after presentation of
amendments Evidence of consumers studies in
regulatory developmentsDefine subpopulation
(also low income) define the sub populations
(how to change the pattern)How people
undertsand genetic informationLearning food
prefernces
10
Priorities/ key challenges

• Implementation of piecemeal approaches
• Determinats of repeat choices
• More research on changes consumer behavour in
  helathy food choices
• Measurement and Modelling of actual versus
  optimal dietary behaviour
• How to effectively and efficiently convert bad
  into good behaviour (consumer demand for healthy
  food choices)
• Methodology to measure food choices
• Using information technology to get the
  information in unobtrusive manner
• Study biological drivers of food choices, look at
  genetic factors

11
Priorities/ key challenges

• Acceptance versus rejection of novelties
• Personalising information (information technolgy)
• Communication (education and learning)
• Theories, measures, dynamics, source for
  comparable data,
• Simulation environments for industry
• New product development processes
• Long term behavioural changes (biological,
  environmental, pysiological, social)
• Relationship between desirability, information
  and availability

12
Priorities/ key challenges - discussion

• Look at individual behavour and household
  behaviour
• Find new ways to find out what consumers say to
  do and what they really do (scanner of purchase
  data and dietary pattern)
• Assessing food intake data (look at food baskets)

13
Challenges at interface with other ETP topics
Health
Safety
Food consumer
Sustainability
Chain mgmt
Food qual manuf.

• Food safety
• determinants of consumer confidence in food
  provision system
• consumer risk perception of products and
  life-style in cost-benefit perspective
• effective risk communication strategies to the
  public

• Food chain management
• understand consumer knowledge, perceptions and
  trust in different supply chains (e.g. high vs.
  low technology input, direct vs. industrialized
  chains)
• consumer needs and expectations regarding
  differentiated supply chains
• consumer information needs and expectations for
  information from supply chains
• consumer perception and responsiveness to
  corporate social responsibility

• Sustainable food production
• how (groups of) consumers understand and value
  sustainability
• consumer expectations, attitudes and
  responsiveness toward sustainable products and
  production systems
• measures for quantifying degree of
  sustainability of food consumption patterns

14
Health
Challenges at interface with other ETP topics
Safety
Food consumer
Sustainability
Chain mgmt
Food qual manuf.

• Food quality and manufacturing
• understand consumer response to new product,
  process and packaging technology
• address gaps in consumer knowledge on how food
  is produced
• understand role of food and sensory expectations
  in different cultures and ages
• understand consumer response to industry efforts
  to reduce undesirable ingredients in food
  (clean labels)

• Health
• understand consumer knowledge of nutritional
  concepts and communication formats, incl.
  health schemes (eg pyramids), claims and
  labelling (e.g. signposting)
• understand the key determinants of habit
  breaking and behavioural change toward
  healthier food choices
• understand the interaction between (un-)healthy
  food lifestyle and other life style factors
• effective intervention strategies to help
  (groups of) consumers to appreciate healthier
  food choices