Hutchings Scott C, Guerrero Luis, Mirosa Miranda, Bremer Phil, Mather Damien, Pavan Enrique, Hicks Talia M, Day Li, Realini Carolina E
AgResearch Limited, Te Ohu Rangahau Kai, Massey University Campus, Grasslands, Tennent Drive, Palmerston North 4474, New Zealand.
IRTA-Monells, Finca Camps i Armet, 17121 Monells, Spain.
Foods. 2021 Jun 8;10(6):1324. doi: 10.3390/foods10061324.
This study assessed if Chinese consumer attitudes towards a range of lamb attributes (such as origin, food safety, appearance, taste, price), and their opinions of New Zealand lamb (9- and 7-point Likert scales, respectively), had changed since the outbreak COVID-19. The same survey was carried out in Shanghai and Beijing pre (December 2018) and post COVID-19 (November 2020), ~9 months after China's initial outbreak, with 500 and 523 consumers, respectively. From December 2018 to November 2020, there was an increase in the proportion of Chinese consumers purchasing red meat online or from a butcher, and cooking their lamb well-done. In contrast, there were minimal differences in Chinese consumer ratings between December 2018 and November 2020 for different lamb attributes and opinions of New Zealand lamb. Cluster analysis revealed that many consumers (140 in December 2018/376 in November 2020) used only a small portion of the high end of the scale when rating lamb attributes, resulting in little differences between the attributes. This study suggests COVID-19 has enhanced some food safety related behaviors but had little effect on Chinese opinions and preferences for New Zealand lamb attributes. It also highlights that survey design should be carefully considered when collecting responses from Chinese consumers.
本研究评估了自新冠疫情爆发以来，中国消费者对一系列羊肉属性（如产地、食品安全、外观、口感、价格）的态度，以及他们对新西兰羊肉的看法（分别采用9分制和7分制李克特量表）是否发生了变化。在新冠疫情爆发前（2018年12月）以及疫情爆发后（2020年11月，即中国首次爆发疫情约9个月后），分别在上海和北京进行了相同的调查，受访者分别为500名和523名消费者。从2018年12月到2020年11月，中国消费者通过网络或从肉店购买红肉以及将羊肉烹饪至全熟的比例有所增加。相比之下，2018年12月至2020年11月期间，中国消费者对不同羊肉属性的评价以及对新西兰羊肉的看法差异极小。聚类分析显示，许多消费者（2018年12月为140人/2020年11月为376人）在对羊肉属性评分时仅使用了量表高端的一小部分，导致各属性之间差异不大。本研究表明，新冠疫情增强了一些与食品安全相关的行为，但对中国消费者对新西兰羊肉属性的看法和偏好影响不大。研究还强调，在收集中国消费者的反馈时，应仔细考虑调查设计。
