Department of Agricultural Economics, Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, Ghent, Belgium.
BMC Public Health. 2010 Jun 15;10:342. doi: 10.1186/1471-2458-10-342.
Consumer perception of the healthiness of beef is an important determinant of beef consumption. However, little is known about how consumers perceive the healthiness of beef. The aim of this study is to shed light on the associations between beef and health.
Eight focus group discussions were conducted in four European countries (France, UK, Germany, Spain), each consisting of seven to nine participants. A content analysis was performed on the transcripts of these discussions.
Although beef was generally perceived as healthful, focus group participants expected positive as well as negative effects of beef consumption on their health. Labelled, branded, fresh and lean beef were perceived as signalling healthful beef, in contrast with further processed and packaged beef. Consumers felt that their individual choices could make a difference with respect to the healthiness of beef consumed. Focus group participants were not in favour of improving beef healthiness during processing, but rather focussed on appropriate consumption behaviour and preparation methods.
The individual responsibility for health implies that consumers should be able to make correct judgements about how healthful their food is. However, the results of this study indicate that an accurate assessment of beef healthiness is not always straightforward. The presented results on consumer perceptions of beef healthiness provide insights into consumer decision making processes, which are important for the innovation and product differentiation in the European beef sector, as well as for public health policy decisions related to meat consumption in general and beef consumption in particular.
消费者对牛肉健康性的认知是影响其牛肉消费的重要决定因素。然而，人们对消费者如何感知牛肉的健康性知之甚少。本研究旨在阐明牛肉与健康之间的关联。
在四个欧洲国家（法国、英国、德国和西班牙）进行了八次焦点小组讨论，每次讨论由 7 到 9 名参与者组成。对这些讨论的记录进行了内容分析。
尽管牛肉通常被认为是健康的，但焦点小组参与者预计牛肉的消费会对其健康产生积极和消极的影响。有标签的、品牌的、新鲜的和精瘦的牛肉被认为是健康的牛肉的标志，而进一步加工和包装的牛肉则不然。消费者认为他们的个人选择可以对所消费的牛肉的健康程度产生影响。焦点小组参与者不赞成在加工过程中提高牛肉的健康性，而是更关注适当的消费行为和准备方法。
个人对健康的责任意味着消费者应该能够正确判断他们的食物有多健康。然而，这项研究的结果表明，对牛肉健康性的准确评估并不总是那么简单。本研究中关于消费者对牛肉健康性的认知的结果提供了对消费者决策过程的深入了解，这对于欧洲牛肉行业的创新和产品差异化以及与肉类消费相关的一般公共卫生政策决策都非常重要，特别是与牛肉消费相关的决策。
