Wim Verbeke

Individual determinants of fish consumption: application of the theory of planned behaviour

This study investigates individual determinants of fish consumption behaviour based on cross-sectional data collected in Belgium. Analyses show that determinants as hypothesised by the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) and personal characteristics influence fish consumption intention and frequency. Favourable attitude, high subjective norm and high perceived behavioural control have a positive impact on fish consumption decisions. Significant habit effects are detected when including habit as a separate regressor of behavioural intention and behaviour. Appreciation of the attribute taste emerges as the most important driver for eating fish, followed closely by health. Bones and price constitute the negative attitude factor, which, however, does not directly reduce behavioural intention. Individual determinants pertain to gender, age, children, income, education level and region. Fish consumption frequency in compliance with health recommendations is higher among women and increases with increasing age, while the presence of children in the household leads to lower fish consumption. The lowest income class has the lowest fish consumption frequency. Higher education results in a higher intention to eat fish but has no effect on the consumption frequency itself. The coastal region of West Flanders is the region with the highest consumption. Food involvement correlates positively with fish consumption intention and frequency, whereas no significant impact of food-health awareness is found.

Consumer perception and choice of minimally processed vegetables and packaged fruits

Sales of minimally processed vegetables and packaged fruits are rapidly increasing thanks to their image of convenience and healthiness. In this paper, consumer perception and choice of these packaged produce was investigated through implementing a consumer survey in Belgium. The first part of the survey consisted of face-to-face interviews (n=294) at the point of sales with people buying minimally processed vegetables and packaged fruits. The second part of the survey was self-administered by consumers at home after consumption (n=237). The likelihood of buying minimally processed vegetables tends to be higher among better-educated consumers and among consumers with young children. Search attributes emerge in terms of importance during the purchasing stage, while experience attributes gain importance after consuming the product. The most important motivation for purchasing minimally processed vegetables relates to convenience and speed, especially for consumers who buy this product during weekends. Although health and nutritional value scored relatively low in terms of importance during the purchasing and consumption stages of minimally processed vegetables, consumers with a high awareness of the relationship between food and health attach significantly more importance to these credence attributes. # 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Beliefs, attitude and behaviour towards fresh meat consumption in Belgium: empirical evidence from a consumer survey

Abstract Several distinct forces have recently impacted on meat consumption and consumer attitude towards meat in many European countries. This article focuses on assessing consumer beliefs, attitude and behaviour towards fresh beef, pork and poultry meat. The methodology deals with quantitative marketing research through a survey with 320 fresh meat consumers in Belgium. Data analysis includes descriptive profile analysis, factor analysis and statistical validation of perceived associations by means of chi-square, F - and t -statistics. The analysis reveals the importance of safety-related meat attributes in impacting beef and pork consumption since the BSE-crisis and towards the future. Based on the results, it can be expected that the future of fresh meat consumption will be determined by the ability of the beef and pork sector to produce, deliver and guarantee products that are intrinsically safe, and moreover perceived as such by consumers. Specifically for pork, leanness is an important issue. Both for pork and poultry, animal welfare and acceptable production methods emerge as key attention points towards the future.

Profile and effects of consumer involvement in fresh meat.

This study investigates the profile and effects of consumer involvement in fresh meat as a product category based on cross-sectional data collected in Belgium. Analyses confirm that involvement in meat is a multidimensional construct including four facets: pleasure value, symbolic value, risk importance and risk probability. Four involvement-based meat consumer segments are identified: straightforward, cautious, indifferent, and concerned. Socio-demographic differences between the segments relate to gender, age and presence of children. The segments differ in terms of extensiveness of the decision-making process, impact and trust in information sources, levels of concern, price consciousness, claimed meat consumption, consumption intention, and preferred place of purchase. The two segments with a strong perception of meat risks constitute two-thirds of the market. They can be typified as cautious meat lovers versus concerned meat consumers. Efforts aiming at consumer reassurance through quality improvement, traceability, labelling or communication may gain effectiveness when targeted specifically to these two segments. Whereas straightforward meat lovers focus mainly on taste as the decisive criterion, indifferent consumers are strongly price oriented.

Consumer perception versus scientific evidence about health benefits and safety risks from fish consumption.

OBJECTIVE To investigate the gap between consumer perception and scientific evidence related to health benefits and safety risks from fish consumption. DESIGN Consumer perceptions from a cross-sectional survey in March 2003 in Belgium were compared with scientific evidence based on a literature review. METHOD A quota sampling procedure was used with age as quota control variable. Subjects completed a self-administered questionnaire including health benefit beliefs from fish, fish content and effect beliefs for nutrients and harmful substances. SUBJECTS Adults (n=429), who were the main person responsible for food purchasing in the household (284 women; 145 men), aged 18-83 years, from different regional, education, family size and income groups. RESULTS Fish is predominantly perceived as a healthy food that reduces risk for coronary heart disease, which corroborates scientific evidence. This perception is stronger among women than among men. In contrast with scientific evidence, 46% of the consumers believe that fish contains dietary fibre, whereas less than one-third is aware that fish contains omega-3 fatty acids and that this nutrient has a positive impact on human health. The gap between perception and evidence is larger among consumers with lower education. In general, consumers are better aware of the content and effect of harmful substances than of nutrients in fish. CONCLUSIONS Despite conclusive evidence about the content and positive effect of omega-3 fatty acids in fish, related consumer awareness and beliefs are poor and often wrong. This study exemplifies the need for nutrition education and more effective communication about the health benefits of fish consumption.

Association between traditional food consumption and motives for food choice in six European countries.

This study investigates the association between traditional food consumption and motives for food choice in six European countries. Cross-sectional data were collected through the TRUEFOOD pan-European consumer survey (n = 4828) with samples representative for age, gender and region in Belgium, France, Italy, Norway, Poland and Spain. Importance attached to familiarity with a product is found to be strongly and positively associated with general attitude toward traditional food as well as traditional food consumption. The importance attached to convenience was negatively related to both general attitude toward traditional food and traditional food consumption, while the importance of weight control negatively influenced the general attitude. Natural content of food was positively associated with the attitude toward traditional food and traditional food consumption. The importance of price when purchasing food failed to be significantly related with general attitude and traditional food consumption both for the pooled sample as well as within each country except in Spain. The proposed model contributes to a better understanding of factors shaping the image and influencing the consumption of traditional foods in Europe. General attitude toward traditional foods, familiarity, and importance of food naturalness emerged as drivers for traditional food consumption. Importance attached to convenience and health acted as direct barriers to traditional food consumption, whereas importance of weight control emerged as an indirect barrier through lowering general attitude toward traditional foods.

Policies to promote healthy eating in Europe: a structured review of policies and their effectiveness

This review provides a classification of public policies to promote healthier eating as well as a structured mapping of existing measures in Europe. Complete coverage of alternative policy types was ensured by complementing the review with a selection of major interventions from outside Europe. Under the auspices of the Seventh Framework Programmes Eatwell Project, funded by the European Commission, researchers from five countries reviewed a representative selection of policy actions based on scientific papers, policy documents, grey literature, government websites, other policy reviews, and interviews with policy-makers. This work resulted in a list of 129 policy interventions, 121 of which were in Europe. For each type of policy, a critical review of its effectiveness was conducted, based on the evidence currently available. The results of this review indicate a need exists for a more systematic and accurate evaluation of government-level interventions as well as for a stronger focus on actual behavioral change rather than changes in attitude or intentions alone. The currently available evidence is very heterogeneous across policy types and is often incomplete.

Ethical challenges for livestock production: meeting consumer concerns about meat safety and animal welfare.

Livestock production today faces thedifficult task of effectively meeting emergingconsumer concerns while remaining competitive on majortarget markets. Meeting consumer concerns aboutproduct safety and animal welfare are identified askey attention points for future livestock production.The relevance of these issues pertains to productionefficiency and economic benefits and tore-establishing meat sector image and consumer trust.The current paper analyses consumer concerns about theethical issues of meat safety and animal welfare fromcurrent livestock production. The research methodologyis based on literature review, secondary data sources,and primary research through focus group discussionsand a survey of 320 meat consumers in Belgium.Objectives were to assess importance attached byconsumers to product safety and animal welfare asethical issues in commercial livestock production, andto evaluate consumer perception of these issues forbeef, pork, and poultry. Significant differences inissue importance and perception are identified amongconsumer groups based on socio-demographic andbehavioral characteristics. From the analysis, meatsafety emerges as an absolute but minimum requirementfor future success of livestock and meat production.Additionally, animal welfare can be expected to becomea critical theme especially for pork and poultryacceptance.

Ethnic food attitudes and behaviour among Belgians and Hispanics living in Belgium

Purpose – Awareness and testing of ethnic cuisine have increased in the past decades as a consequence of the growing international trade, migration, tourism and globalisation. This article aims to focus on the attitude and behaviour of Belgians towards Latin‐American ethnic foods, and of Hispanics living in Belgium towards mainstream Belgian food.Design/methodology/approach – The role of socio‐demographic characteristics, food neophobia, and degree of acculturation or openness on food preference and choice among these two population groups is analysed. A survey with 119 Belgian and 127 Hispanic participants was performed. Data analysis deals with descriptive analyses and statistical validation of the perceived associations by means of chi‐square, t‐test, ANOVA, correlations, and stepwise multiple regression.Findings – The overall opinion and degree of satisfaction of the Belgian sample towards ethnic food were favourable. Latin‐American food consumption and attitude of Belgians are negatively correlated w...

Beliefs, attitude and behaviour towards fresh meat revisited after the Belgian dioxin crisis

This study revisits consumer beliefs, attitude and behaviour towards fresh meat consumption in Belgium after the occurrence of the dioxin crisis of 1999. The meat dioxin scare evoked a large amount of negative press, mainly pertained to poultry meat and pork. The focus of this follow-up study is on assessing shifts and persistence in consumer perception and attitude, based on cross-sectional data obtained from a sample of 205 meat consumers. Comparison with previous research reveals reasonable shifts in meat attribute perception and image dimensions. Beef perception significantly improved on containing hormones and safety-attributes, contrary to the evolution seen for poultry and pork. Persistence of perception is revealed for meat attributes that were not directly involved in the information flow of the last years.