Janssen Meike, Chang Betty P I, Hristov Hristo, Pravst Igor, Profeta Adriano, Millard Jeremy
Consumer and Behavioural Insights Group, Copenhagen Business School, Frederiksberg, Denmark.
Consumer Science Department, The European Food Information Council, Brussels, Belgium.
Front Nutr. 2021 Mar 8;8:635859. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2021.635859. eCollection 2021.
This paper focuses on changes in food consumption that occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic. Its objective is to map changes at individual consumer level and identify the influence of different factors related to the COVID-19 pandemic on changes in individual food consumption. We conducted a cross-sectional online survey among 2,680 residents of Denmark (DK), Germany (DE), and Slovenia (SI) using quota sampling for gender, age and regional distribution. Data on consumption frequencies before and during the pandemic were collected with a food frequency questionnaire in the spring of 2020 (during the first lockdown period) for important types of fresh food and non-perishable food. Our results showed that, depending on the type of food, 15-42% of study participants changed their consumption frequency during the pandemic, compared to before. In all the study countries, the food categories with the highest rates of change were frozen food, canned food, and cake and biscuits; among the food categories with lower rates of change were bread, alcoholic drinks, and dairy products. People across all three countries shopped less frequently during lockdown and there was an overall reduction in the consumption of fresh foods, but an increase in the consumption of food with a longer shelf life in Denmark and Germany. Interestingly though, we observed diverging trends in all food categories analyzed, with some people decreasing and others increasing their consumption frequencies, demonstrating that the pandemic had different impacts on people's lifestyles and food consumption patterns. Using the method of multinomial regression analysis, we identified factors significantly ( < 0.01, < 0.05, < 0.1) related to increases and decrease in individuals' consumption frequencies in different food categories. The factors include restrictions put in place in response to the pandemic (i.e., closure of physical workplaces, canteens, cafés and restaurants, schools, and childcare institutions), changes in households' grocery shopping frequency, individuals' perceived risk of COVID-19, income losses due to the pandemic, and socio-demographic factors. Interesting differences between the countries were detected, allowing insights into the different food cultures. Conclusions include implications for policy-makers and actors in the food supply chain on the issues of healthy diets, food system resilience, and behavior change.
本文聚焦于新冠疫情期间发生的食品消费变化。其目的是描绘个体消费者层面的变化，并确定与新冠疫情相关的不同因素对个体食品消费变化的影响。我们采用配额抽样法，针对性别、年龄和地区分布，对丹麦（DK）、德国（DE）和斯洛文尼亚（SI）的2680名居民进行了横断面在线调查。2020年春季（在首次封锁期间），通过食物频率问卷收集了疫情前和疫情期间重要类型的新鲜食品和耐储存食品的消费频率数据。我们的结果表明，根据食品类型，与疫情前相比，15%至42%的研究参与者在疫情期间改变了他们的消费频率。在所有研究国家中，变化率最高的食品类别是冷冻食品、罐头食品以及蛋糕和饼干；变化率较低的食品类别包括面包、酒精饮料和乳制品。在所有三个国家，人们在封锁期间购物频率降低，新鲜食品的消费总体减少，但丹麦和德国耐储存食品的消费有所增加。不过，有趣的是，我们在所有分析的食品类别中都观察到了不同的趋势，有些人减少了消费频率，而另一些人则增加了消费频率，这表明疫情对人们的生活方式和食品消费模式产生了不同的影响。使用多项回归分析方法，我们确定了与不同食品类别中个体消费频率增加和减少显著相关（<0.01、<0.05、<0.1）的因素。这些因素包括因应对疫情而实施的限制措施（即关闭实体工作场所、食堂、咖啡馆和餐馆、学校以及托儿机构）、家庭食品杂货店购物频率的变化、个体对新冠疫情的感知风险、疫情导致的收入损失以及社会人口因素。我们还发现了各国之间有趣的差异，这有助于深入了解不同的饮食文化。结论包括对政策制定者和食品供应链参与者在健康饮食、食品系统韧性和行为改变等问题上的启示。
