Assessing consumer attitudes and perceptions towards food authenticity

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify and assess the factors that consumers evaluate significant in the assessment of food authenticity and guide them to make safe food choices. Design/methodology/approach In this respect, a mixture model for consumer preferences, namely CUB, was employed due to the ability of discriminate features that are rated similarly allowing the detection of significant similarities and differences in consumers’ judgments. Moreover, introducing covariates in CUB models allow studying the influence that consumers’ socio-demographic characteristics have on the importance of the attributes used in the assessment of food authenticity. Findings The results demonstrate that organic certificate, traditional and homemade production practices, origin certificate as well as information about product’s origin country and raw materials production region are significant quality cues enable consumers to judge food authenticity. In addition, consumers further segmentation according to socio-demographic characteristics indicate that country of origin information are mainly used by middle-aged consumers, highly educated and paid, whereas production techniques and organic certification constitute the most effective indicators for judging food authenticity by older consumers. Originality/value The paper confirms that consumers can use extrinsic and intrinsic quality cues to judge food’s authenticity.

Historical Wines of Portugal: The Classification, Consumer Associations and Marketing Implications

“…Consumer perceptions’, on the other hand, denoted a more literal understanding of the word “historic”, as in “old” or “ancient” [ 23 ] or, in the particular case of wines, “aged”, possibly related to associations established with types of wine with century-old traditions in Portugal (albeit not falling under the classification of HWP), such as Madeira or Port wines. Still, and in line with findings of extant research on food [ 15 , 22 ] and wine authenticity [ 19 ], associations reported during interviews also underlined consumers’ reliance on reputational cues or authoritative authentications of the quality and genuineness of a wine classified as HWP. Notably, the accolades of wine critics and foreign market performance seemed to carry more weight than formal classification schemes or labels.…”

“…Two authors transcribed audio recordings of the interviews in full, and independently content-analyzed anonymized transcriptions in order to identify and categorize all excerpts that could constitute authenticity attributes of a wine classified as HWP, according to the dimensions of brand authenticity uncovered by previous research [ 15 , 17 , 18 , 22 ]. Divergences in categorization were discussed and solved by consensus, and a final list of HWP classification attributes generated for inclusion in the online questionnaire.…”

“…Origin-based, quality certification schemes for food products, such as PDO/PGI, ecological labelling, quality certificates of private organizations or generic denominations of quality, among others, can have positive effects on sales and increase consumers’ willingness to pay for terroir products [ 9 , 22 , 31 ]. In this sense, the HWP classification can be conceived as being an authenticity cue on its own merit, which can function in the market as a heuristic for wine buyers and help improve their perceptions of the quality attributes of the wines falling under it.…”

“…That is, the land where foods grow or the region where wines are produced are assumed to impart them with unique and valuable features. Such relationship to place appears to be assessed by consumers essentially through the geographical origin of a product (or merely of its ingredients or methods of production), often with some help from formal certification schemes and labels, as well as from authoritative authentications of genuineness emitted by experts or media gatekeepers [ 15 , 22 , 23 ]. Charters and colleagues [ 24 ] suggest, furthermore, that terroir is a valuable marketing communication resource “based on unique physical origins and shared cultural personification that shape a product’s benefits into a meaningful value proposition not possible for products lacking this specific origin”.…”

“…In view of longstanding economic constraints, wines classified as HWP have found other ways to signal stylistic consistency and quality commitment that possibly reinforce their claim of authenticity, such as the ability to resist modern market trends and remain true to their essence throughout the years, and a commitment to high artisanship and exclusive use of manual labor [ 3 ]. Earlier research uncovered that the use of unprocessed, local ingredients and manufacturing processes evocative of artisanal or craft production (e.g., handmade, homemade), are indeed likely to reinforce consumers’ perceptions of the quality and authenticity of food products [ 15 , 22 ].…”