A multitude of indices measure the healthiness of dietary patterns. Because validation results with respect to health outcomes do not sufficiently facilitate the choice of a specific dietary quality index, the decision of which index to use for a particular research objective should be based on other criteria. This review aims to provide guidance on which criteria to focus upon when choosing a dietary index for a specific research question. A review of 57 existing specifications of dietary quality indices was conducted, taking explicitly into account relevant construction criteria explicated in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development handbook on constructing composite indicators. Index construction choices regarding the following criteria were extracted: theoretical framework, indicator selection, normalization and valuation functions, and aggregation methods. Preferable features of dietary indices are discussed, and a summarizing toolbox is provided to help identify indices with the most appropriate construction features for the respective study aim and target region and with regard to the available database. Directions for future efforts in the specification of new diet quality indices are given.

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Consumers' perceptions of functional foods are complicated by perceived risks and complexity that appear from growing and sometimes confusing information flow. Social trust can serve as a mean for the reduction of risk and complexity. It is thus vital to understand the sources of distrust and food‐neophobia as well as coping mechanisms used by consumers to ensure food provision and safety. We discuss the results of a qualitative inquiry in the form of focus groups into consumers' perceptions of functional foods in Russia and Germany. Altogether eight focus group interviews were carried out in different parts of Russia and Germany in December–January 2012–2013. A total of 59 people participated in the discussions. Different perspectives provided by the discussions in the two countries indicate different levels of trust. Deeper culturally embedded and wider‐spread distrust in formal institutions in Russia pushes consumers towards developing informal networks to ensure food provision and safety. It leads to high levels of food‐neophobia as consumers perceive traditions as the most important guarantee for healthy food. On the other hand, German participants indicate a number of formal institutions that are trustworthy and through which information concerning novel and healthy attributes in foods can be communicated. We provide exploratory views on the importance of social trust in consumers' perceptions of functional foods and lay out mechanisms that consumers develop to deal with increasing risk and complexity in food choices.

This study provides insights on urban Russian consumers' attitudes and perceptions toward organic food, as well as factors that facilitate or prevent them from purchasing these products. We adopted an exploratory mixed-method approach, using a combination of qualitative and quantitative investigations undertaken in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Our results suggest that organic food consumption is mainly motivated by personal well-being and less by social or environmental concerns. Most participants perceive organic food as higher quality products, based upon which they show an acceptance of a price premium for organic food. The group of organic food consumers in our study relies on organic agriculture as one possible strategy to cope with food safety problems. The presence of strict standards for organic food, the trustworthiness of foreign certifications and the perceived higher quality of foreign products (especially from Europe) are perceived together as a safety guarantee. Our results further indicate that the widespread confusion regarding product recognition represents an important obstacle for organic food consumption growth. Implementing a coherent legislative framework to allow product labeling is apparently crucial yet not sufficient for developing the organic sector in Russia; moreover, trust in food labeling and control systems as well as awareness about organic standards is also required. [EconLit citations: Q01; Q13; Q18]. C 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

This article analyzes the existing literature on consumers’ marginal willingness to pay (MWTP) for health benefits in food products. Results indicate that the presence of a health claim does not only increase MWTP for health benefits in foods but also reduces heterogeneity among MWTP estimates. Hypothetical methods significantly positively affect MWTP. The most popular product category “dairy” negatively influences MWTP. The popular health claim of “lowering cholesterol” has a significantly positive influence on MWTP. In addition, our review highlights that existing studies significantly differ in their setup, which renders the inference of clear‐cut conclusions rather problematic.

Significant changes have taken place in the world wheat market in the last decade. Russia, a former net wheat importer, has become a leading exporter with a world market share of 11.2% in 2009. This increasing importance and the discussion about the establishment of a grain‐OPEC consisting of Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Russia has raised the issue of pricing behaviour of Russian wheat exporters. Although there are several studies on the pricing behaviour of Canadian and US wheat exporters, there is none so far for Russian wheat exporters. This study provides a quantitative analysis of the pricing behaviour of Russian wheat exporters, explicitly taking account of the export tax imposed between 2007 and 2008. We employ a pricing‐to‐market (PTM) model on quarterly Russian wheat‐export data, covering the period from 2002 to 2010 and 25 export destinations. Our findings indicate that (i) Russian wheat exporters exercised PTM in only a few importing countries over the whole time period, and (ii) PTM behaviour was more pronounced in the aftermath of the export tax period (i.e. 2008–2010) than before.