Labelling and sustainability in the green food economy: Perception among millennials with a good cultural background

The Importance Given to Food Naturalness Attributes by Millennial University Students

“…The findings support previous research that suggests millennials are more likely to support local food production [20]. In previous studies, local food production was found to preserve the natural attributes in foods [48] and had a significant impact on the intention to eat more natural [40] and authentic products [75]. This study also confirmed the positive effect of naturalness categories analyzed in the present research on millennials' trust in natural food.…”

“…Currently, natural food is one of the most increasingly demanded products and, as a result, its economic impact has aroused corporate interest [6]. What people expect from natural foods partly overlaps with their perception of organic foods [76], but while "organic" labeling for food is regulated [75], there are almost no regulations concerning the use of the word "natural" [22]. Previous attempts to comprehensively conceptualize food naturalness were limited to theoretical approaches (e.g., [9]) or did not take into account the singularities of the millennial generation (e.g., [22]).…”

The Millennials’ Concept of Sustainability in the Food Sector

“…Massaglia et al, [59] proved that consumers require detailed labels to easily recognize sustainable food production i.e., animal welfare. Sometimes, the information provided by labeling is not very clear: e.g., Gadema and Oglethorpe [60] and Hartikainen et al, [61] evidenced confusion among consumers reading carbon footprint labels, Bollani et al, [51] underlined lesser knowledge of climate labels, Van Loo et al, [49] and Hartikainen et al, [61] showed lesser interest in carbon footprints, Polonsky et al, [62] evidenced doubts on carbon offset labels. Meanwhile, Vecchio and Annunziata [63] and Cholette et al, [64] highlighted the importance of identifying consumers interested in food sustainability in order to obtain real benefits.…”

“…Moreover, on the one hand, Cavaliere and Ventura [94] prove that eco-friendly Millennial students can perceive innovation technologies in food products as a safety risk, on the other hand, Öz et al, [95] highlight that Millennials, with higher levels of education as to biotechnology concerns, remark less risk and have fewer safety concerns than non-Millennials towards genetically modified technology and products. Lastly, Harun et al, [96] evidence that Millennials are not influenced in their fast food purchase intention by Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Bollani et al, [51] underline that climate labels are not well-known by Italian Millennials; Thompson and Barrett [97] evidence that Millennials believe that wine increases enjoyment of food and conviviality; Pomarici and Vecchio [98] show that female and older Millennials who live in an urban area are more interested in buying labelled sustainable wines than others; Henley et al, [99] underline the importance of some labeling information, as sensorial characteristics, in influencing Millennials' wine purchase intentions.…”

“…Supporting these requests, public and private operators have developed different strategies to improve consumption in the food sector, e.g., the European quality system related to organic production [47,48] and certification and labeling schemes underlining the sustainability of a food product [49][50][51][52]. On the one hand, these new market dynamics in terms of product and related services play a central role in the transformation processes of the system.…”