Harmful Compounds and Willingness to Buy for Reduced-Additives Salami. An Outlook on Italian Consumers

Abstract

The consumption pattern of salami has been subjected to relatively widespread attention by academician, but few studies concerning the health implications of salami consumption have been published. Since additives and product origins represent important attributes for salami, the objective of this paper is twofold: (i) to explore the role of two additives, salt and nitrates, in addition to the Italian origin, in relation to consumer attitudes and preferences towards salami, (ii) to segment consumer behaviour by assessing their willingness-to-buy salami, in order to verify whether different purchasing patterns can be identified within the different social groups. The analysis was conducted on two different levels. The first was developed through a conjoint analysis, while the second implemented a frequency analysis based on a bivariate analysis. Results show the price as one of the most important variables in identifying the quality level of salami, in addition, certain socio-economic segments of consumers show a significant propensity to pay an additional price for salami with a low salt content and is nitrate-free.

Red Wine and Garlic as a Possible Alternative to Minimize the Use of Nitrite for Controlling Clostridium Sporogenes and Salmonella in a Cured Sausage: Safety and Sensory Implications

“…The preference of consumers for chouriço without nitrite or nitrate might be related to the more characteristic aromatization of those including wine or wine plus garlic but may also be due to the fact that they recognize these products as "less industrial" or more similar to homemade products, which are recognized as healthier due to the absence of food additives, as was observed from analyzing comments during the FGs and the trends found with the CATA and hedonic evaluations. Some groups of consumers have a serious concern about the healthiness of foods with chemical additives, and they are willing to pay more for "green-label" foods [62,63]. Although in the present work, the use of additives was not revealed to consumers, the appearance of the products, namely their bright red color, was suggestive of the use of additives, which might have impaired the appreciation for such products.…”

Animal welfare and gender: a nexus in awareness and preference when choosing fresh beef meat?

“…Secondly, in accordance with Di Vita et al (2019a), two non-parametric test were used to determine if there were statistically significant differences between the mean value of preferences expressed by gender (with a Mann-Whitney U Test) and to test the differences between items of Section 'Materials and methods' of the questionnaire (tested with a Kruskal-Wallis H Test).…”

“…If the initial hypothesis is rejected, it means that the attributes are not related to each other in the sample (Verbeke and Viaene 1999). This methodology is widely accepted in various sectors (human resources management, psychology, market research) and is used to make critical decisions for the future (Di Vita et al 2019a). PCA has also been widely used to describe consumer behaviour or product characteristics in the agri-food sector (Pourov a and Stehlik 2012).…”

The Impact of the Food Labeling and Other Factors on Consumer Preferences Using Discrete Choice Modeling—The Example of Traditional Pork Sausage

“…These included the price, base meat product, and healthy ingredients. Di Vita et al [ 53 ] emphasized that the price is one of the most important factors in determining the quality level of the salami investigated. Besides, the authors concluded that certain socio-economic segments of consumers show a significant willingness to pay extra for low salt content and nitrate-free salami.…”