Food choices are complex functions of several elements that could change over time. Nowadays consumers appear careful about sustainable food consumption: the behavior of “food citizenship”, as the practice to support a sustainable food system during the consumption actions, arises. This study aims to recognize the existence of food choice behaviors in the contemporary scenario and to investigate the relation between the food choice factors and the behaviors recognized. Following a quantitative research method, a sample of 380 participants, recruited from a traditional Italian food and wine event, completed a questionnaire in order to detect their attitude about food. Four current food choice behaviors were recognized: The Individualist, The Foodie, The Environmentalist and The Health enthusiast. The relation between food choice factors and food choice behaviors was explained. Several stakeholders could benefit from the study results, in order to better understand how to adapt products and marketing strategies to satisfy the emerging customer’s needs and awareness. Even if a person can identify themselves within a single food choice behavior, they become aware of other choice models expanding their personal point of view. Finally, new research scenarios arose for the researchers.
Labels play a strategic role in communication, representing the interface between consumers and the food system. Consumers’ ability to correctly understand product label information was essential for health and safety, making a sustainable choice, as also demonstrated by the Federal Regulations of USA, which define several guidelines to increase the readability of labels. Human Factor studies the interface design in order to assure users’ safety, comfort, and productiveness. So, it could be applied in label design to enhance consumers’ safeguard and healthcare. The aim of this study is to analyze the fields of application of the Human Factor in label design to evaluate the current methods of utilization in the food industry. A two-step literature review was applied, using bibliometric and content analysis. From bibliometric analysis, 6 clusters of themes and the predominance of medical terms arose. The absence of terms related to the food domain is surprising. So, a content analysis on lead papers’ sample related to the Food Industry was carried out to identify evidence about the human factor in food label design. From content analysis, 2 groups of works’ results, focused on the possibility to consider the human factor in: i) pharmaceutical label design, ii) food label design, respectively. The studies in food label design primarily focused on label readability related to content positioning and not on its understandability. The practical implications of the study include the construction of a new concept of label in terms of contents and communication channels.
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