Sustainability for Food Consumers: Which Perception?

Peano, Cristiana; Merlino, Valentina Maria; Sottile, Francesco; Borra, Danielle; Massaglia, Stefano

doi:10.3390/su11215955

Cited by 56 publications

(42 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…Moreover, in response to increased consumer demand for sustainable products and a return to traditional food products, animal husbandry is focusing on the reinstatement of autochthonous breeds, on territories and on eco-sustainable products (29). In effect, these breeds, territories and products, by way of their characteristics, can be defined as prototypes of sustainability in all its dimensions (environmental, economic, and societal) (30)(31)(32). Examining this complex scenario, in conjunction with the social-economic and environmental impact of Alpine dairy production systems, this research aims to develop the following points:…”

Section: Aimsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sustainability of Four Dairy Farming Scenarios in an Alpine Environment: The Case Study of Toma di Lanzo Cheese

et al. 2020

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The dairy sector accounts for a large share of all European agricultural production, at the same time however, it is one of the most ascribed sector contributors to the environmental impact of agriculture, particularly for greenhouse gas emissions. Simultaneously, it is a strategic sector for the economy but generates increasing debate in the community regarding the social aspects mainly related to the use of resources and the food-feed competition of livestock involving the reduction of human-edible crops. In this general framework, this study aims to compare four different dairy farming scenarios characterized by different use of environmental resources in the Alpine area, considering as a case study the production of the Toma di Lanzo cheese (a traditional cheese produced in the mountainous regions of Piedmont-Northwest Italy). The study envisaged the integrated use of three methodologies: Life Cycle Assessment, Life Cycle Costing and the assessment of human-edible feed conversion efficiency to jointly analyze environmental, economic and social aspects. The main results of this research highlighted how the utilization of local breeds, which maximize the efficiency in the use of territory resources, such as grasslands in a mountain environment, allowed dairy production to reduce emissions, when compared to the high-input traditional breeding systems. Although the mountain livestock systems have several critical issues mainly linked to social factors such as low generational turnover, work schedules, modest life quality of families, it is however possible to earn more income than in lowland scenarios. At the same time, this production system allows the Toma di Lanzo cheese-making heritage to be preserved. This mountain pasture cheese, to which superior organoleptic and nutritional characteristics are attributable, when compared to cheeses from the valley floor, incorporates traditional values, a link to the territory and the transmission of knowledge. With reference to food-feed competition in livestock involving the reduction of the use of human-edible crops and feedstuffs in animal diets, we found that grazing and grass-based feeding systems were one of the most sustainable ways to produce milk.

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Section: Aimsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sustainability of Four Dairy Farming Scenarios in an Alpine Environment: The Case Study of Toma di Lanzo Cheese

et al. 2020

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“…Attitudes towards new food was studied with the food neophobia scale (FNS) [30]. The FNS consists of 10 items with a seven-category response scale ranging from "disagree strongly" (1) to "agree strongly" (7). Half of the items are reversed, therefore scoring of these items was reversed before calculating the FNS score as a sum of all the item scores.…”

Section: Consumer Surveymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Environmental preservation has become one of the main concerns of consumers [ 3 ]. Consumers’ interest in environmentally friendly products has grown over recent decades [ 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 ]. However, regarding food choices, health-related issues and food origin are more preferred reasons than environmental awareness [ 8 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sensory and Conceptual Aspects of Ingredients of Sustainable Sources—Finnish Consumers’ Opinion

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Forsman

et al. 2020

Foods

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Sustainable strategies that enable development of alternative sustainable novel ingredients for food are needed to ensure adequate resources for food in the future. Determining consumer attitudes and acceptance of novel ingredients is essential for wider usage of products including these ingredients. The purpose of the study was to reveal consumers’ perspectives on novel, and partly traditional but marginally utilized, ingredients to be used in regular cooking and their sensory characteristics and nutritional and environmental aspects. Consumer attitudes were obtained with two online consumer surveys. Consumer surveys revealed the most interesting ingredients. Plant-based ingredients are preferred over raw materials of animal or insect origin and these are also perceived as more pleasant. Plants were also regarded as credible, ecological, natural, healthy and nutrient-rich. Finnish consumers are not ready to adopt insects into their diet. Neither synthetic meat nor three-dimensional printed food have potential without further knowledge or experience of consumers. Findings of this research give baseline information on consumer attitudes towards novel ingredients. Further research is needed to investigate the perceived pleasantness when the potential ingredients are tasted.

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“…Others have created scales to describe consumer segments based on environmental problems [6]. Some have examined the impact of ecological factors on the intention to purchase green products, such as environmental knowledge [4,7], environmental awareness [8][9][10][11][12], the attitude towards the environment [11,13], or ecology as a heuristic of superiority [14][15][16]. Health factors have been another set of variables that have pushed the green consumption, including concerns about food security and health awareness [17,18].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The present paper explores a new perspective of environmental concern: the biodiversity strategy. Considering the ambiguity of the ecological term and the multiple interpretations that consumers make of it [16], it might be convenient to focus the awareness efforts on a new dimension which is more concrete and easy to interpret by consumers. In this context, the argument we support is that biodiversity is a term less ambiguous in its interpretation and easier for the consumer to understand.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Concern about Biodiversity as a Criterion for the Classification of the Sustainable Consumer: A Cross-Cultural Approach

2020

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One of the variables assessed in the research related to the consumption of green products is environmental concern. This work explores a new dimension to environmental concern: biodiversity. The reasons why research has focused on the mentioned dimension are, on one hand, the consideration of biodiversity as the main environmental indicator of the sustainability and, on the other, the paucity of marketing studies analyzing this variable and its relationship with the purchase behavior of sustainable products. The present paper proposes a classification of sustainable consumers according to their level of biodiversity concern. It is based on a quantitative study on the consumption behavior of olive oils carried out in four European countries, using the clustering multivariate technique. The results point out that there are differences between the segments depending on their level of commitment to biodiversity. The country’s influence on the way that its people experience biodiversity was also tackled. As a main conclusion, we identify four clusters or segments (not concerned, passive, active and influencers), setting up a multilevel structure of ascending intensity with regard to their level of biodiversity concern, with differences in the composition according to age and sex between countries.

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Sustainability for Food Consumers: Which Perception?

Cited by 56 publications

References 44 publications

Sustainability of Four Dairy Farming Scenarios in an Alpine Environment: The Case Study of Toma di Lanzo Cheese

Sustainability of Four Dairy Farming Scenarios in an Alpine Environment: The Case Study of Toma di Lanzo Cheese

Sensory and Conceptual Aspects of Ingredients of Sustainable Sources—Finnish Consumers’ Opinion

The Concern about Biodiversity as a Criterion for the Classification of the Sustainable Consumer: A Cross-Cultural Approach

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