Department of Agricultural and Food Economics, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Piacenza, Italy.
Faculty of Bioscience and Agro-Food and Environmental Technology, Via Renato Balzarini, 1 64100 Teramo, Italy; UR ALISS, INRAE, Université Paris-Saclay, 94205 Ivry-sur-Seine, France.
Waste Manag. 2021 May 1;126:283-290. doi: 10.1016/j.wasman.2021.03.018. Epub 2021 Mar 27.
Upcycled ingredients are one of the most significant current trends in the food industry aimed to tackle the challenge of solid food loss reduction. This study investigates the potential market among Millennial consumers for products enriched with upcycled ingredients in Italy. We surveyed a sample of 317 Italian Millennial consumers, using a web-based survey. 62% of respondents declared to be informed about the existence of food made from upcycled ingredients and 53% declared to be willing to buy this novel food. Also, 69% of respondents think that food enriched with upcycled ingredients can bring environmental benefits, while only 40% believe that it can bring health benefits. Using a logit model to analyse consumer preferences, we found that food neophobia and food technology neophobia negatively impact on the likelihood of being willing to buy food produced with upcycled ingredients. Also, consumers who give high importance to food certification are less likely to be willing to buy upcycled foods. Contrariwise, reading labels and believing that upcycled foods are healthier or more environmentally friendly positively impacts on the willingness of Millennial consumers to buy these foods. Results for the sample analysed eventually suggest that giving right information to consumers about the environmental and health characteristics of the products, through clear labelling, could increase their market uptake thus helping to reduce food loss and contributing to reaching circular economy objectives in the agricultural sector.
再利用成分是食品行业目前最重要的趋势之一，旨在应对减少固体食物损失的挑战。本研究调查了意大利千禧一代消费者对富含再利用成分产品的潜在市场。我们使用基于网络的调查对 317 名意大利千禧一代消费者进行了抽样调查。62%的受访者表示已经了解到用再利用成分制成的食品的存在，53%的受访者表示愿意购买这种新型食品。此外，69%的受访者认为富含再利用成分的食品可以带来环境效益，而只有 40%的受访者认为它可以带来健康效益。我们使用对数模型分析消费者偏好，发现食品新异性和食品技术新异性会降低购买再利用成分食品的意愿。此外，重视食品认证的消费者不太愿意购买再利用食品。相反，阅读标签并认为再利用食品更健康或更环保会正面影响千禧一代消费者购买这些食品的意愿。对分析样本的最终结果表明，通过清晰的标签向消费者提供有关产品环境和健康特征的正确信息，可以增加其市场占有率，从而有助于减少食物损失，并有助于实现农业部门的循环经济目标。
