Giuseppe Nocella

Stated willingness-to-pay for organic fruit and pesticide ban: an evaluation using both web-based and face-to-face interviewing

Abstract Income growth in highly industrialised countries has resulted in consumer choice of foodstuffs no longer being primarily influenced by basic factors such as price and organoleptic features. From this perspective, the present study sets out to evaluate how and to what extent consumer choice is influenced by the possible negative effects on health and environment caused by the consumption of fruit containing deposits of pesticides and chemical products. The study describes the results of a survey which explores and estimates consumer willingness to pay in two forms: a yearly contribution for the abolition of the use of pesticides on fruit, and a premium price for organically grown apples guaranteed by a certified label. The same questionnaire was administered to two samples. The first was a conventional face-to-face survey of customers of large retail outlets located around Bologna (Italy); the second was an Internet sample. The discrete choice data were analysed by means of probit and tobit models to estimate the utility consumers attribute to organically grown fruit and to a pesticide ban. The research also addresses questions of validity and representativeness as a fundamental problem in web-based surveys.

Sociodemographic determinants of diet quality of the EU elderly: a comparative analysis in four countries

OBJECTIVE To investigate the sociodemographic determinants of diet quality of the elderly in four EU countries. DESIGN Cross-sectional study. For each country, a regression was performed of a multidimensional index of dietary quality v. sociodemographic variables. SETTING In Finland, Finnish Household Budget Survey (1998 and 2006); in Sweden, SNAC-K (2001-2004); in the UK, Expenditure & Food Survey (2006-07); in Italy, Multi-purpose Survey of Daily Life (2009). SUBJECTS One- and two-person households of over-50s (Finland, n 2994; UK, n 4749); over-50 s living alone or in two-person households (Italy, n 7564); over-60 s (Sweden, n 2023). RESULTS Diet quality among the EU elderly is both low on average and heterogeneous across individuals. The regression models explained a small but significant part of the observed heterogeneity in diet quality. Resource availability was associated with diet quality either negatively (Finland and UK) or in a non-linear or non-statistically significant manner (Italy and Sweden), as was the preference for food parameter. Education, not living alone and female gender were characteristics positively associated with diet quality with consistency across the four countries, unlike socio-professional status, age and seasonality. Regional differences within countries persisted even after controlling for the other sociodemographic variables. CONCLUSIONS Poor dietary choices among the EU elderly were not caused by insufficient resources and informational measures could be successful in promoting healthy eating for healthy ageing. On the other hand, food habits appeared largely set in the latter part of life, with age and retirement having little influence on the healthiness of dietary choices.

Consumers perception and evaluation of fresh cut buying attributes: a survey on the Italian market

Abstract During the last twenty years, consumer choice in high income countries is no longer merely dictated by price and the organoleptic characteristics of a product, but also by other features some of which are not patently tangible. The growing importance of such attributes in the process of consumer choice is not only due to income increase, but also to changes in lifestyle such as migrations from the countryside, a generalized urbanization and consequential city life style, female emancipation and work outside the domestic walls for women, the drastic decrease in hard physical labor and the process of internationalization. The present survey study aims to explore the importance that Italian consumers give to fresh cut buying attributes and which of these attributes should be taken into consideration by industries in order to satisfy the needs of the most critical shoppers. Where possible, market and survey data for fresh cut products will be compared with those for cooked products and before presenting the results and conclusions of the study, the technical issues of processing will be highlighted owing to the fact that they affect the marketing of these products, the recent market situation with regard to consumption will be illustrated and the methodology used will be described.

Insights for the Development of a Functional Fish Product : Drivers and Barriers, Acceptance, and Communication of Health Benefits

ABSTRACT This study aims to explore consumer acceptance of a new functional fish burger using a qualitative approach based on four focus group discussions conducted in selected major Italian cities. Results show that the development of functional fish products may bypass fish consumption barriers, combining convenience and health benefits delivered by functional ingredients. The acceptance of new functional fish products seems to be influenced positively by the enrichment of functional ingredients naturally present in fish, particularly omega-3 fatty acids. Consumer acceptance of this new product is also influenced by the use of different nutritional and health claims. Implications for marketers and policy makers and insights for further research are discussed in the conclusions.

Benefits from safer animal food products: preliminary results from a contingent valuation study of Italian households

Benefits from safer animal food products: preliminary results from a contingent valuation study of Italian Households (di Giuseppe Nocella, Riccardo Scarpa) - ABSTRACT: Benefits from safer animal food products: preliminary results from a contingent valuation study of Italian households The social cost of food scares has been the object of substantial applied research worldwide. In Italy, meat and dairy products are often the vectors of food-borne pathogens, and this is well known by the public. Most cases of food contamination and poisoning find their causes in the way food is handled after, rather than before purchase. However, a large fraction is still caused by mishandling at the industrial stage. With this in mind, we set out to estimate Italian households’ willingness to pay (wtp) for a reduction in the risk of meat and dairy food contamination using contingent valuation. The survey design incorporated features specifically conceived to overcome difficulties faced in previous survey research, especially with respect to individualized food expenditures and risk communication. In order to achieve this objective a capi (computer-assisted personal interview) survey was devised to tackle two major issues which emerged in previous contingent valuation studies. The first issue is connected to the way of communicating risk to consumers in order to allow them to make optimal choices and the second one to the results deriving from these studies. In fact, estimates from contingent valuation regarding food safety are given just for single products and so marketers may find it hard to extrapolate them to the aggregate. Our results show that in Italy there are segments of consumers who would benefit from higher standards of food safety for farm animal products.