Food sustainability and waste reduction in Spain: Consumer preferences for local, suboptimal, and/or unwashed fresh food products

Gracia, A. (Universidad de Zaragoza) ; Gómez, M.I.

Resumen: Improving food sustainability and reducing food waste are among the top challenges for achieving global sustainable development. In particular, changes towards more sustainable consumption are of vital importance in creating a more sustainable world. To shed light on these issues, we analyze to what extent and how consumers'' food preferences move towards more sustainable behavior. We assess the importance consumers attach to the following critical sustainable attributes of food related to food waste: (i) "Visual imperfections", (ii) "washed/unwashed", (iii) "size", (iv) "locally produced", and (v) "price". We hypothesize that consumer preferences for these attributes are heterogeneous. Therefore, we segmented consumers into homogenous groups according to preferences for these sustainability attributes. To do this, we employed a direct ranking preference method using data gathered in an experiment conducted with consumers living in a mid-sized town in the northeast of Spain in 2018. The results suggest a high degree of consumer heterogeneity, and we identified four clusters according to the importance consumers attach to these attributes. The results are encouraging for the promotion of sustainability because different groups of consumers might prefer to purchase food products with different sustainable characteristics, such as locally grown, foods with visual imperfections, and minimally processed foods.

Idioma: Inglés

DOI: 10.3390/su12104148

Año: 2020

Publicado en: Sustainability (Switzerland) 12, 10 (2020), 4148 [15 pp]
ISSN: 2071-1050

Factor impacto JCR: 3.251 (2020)

Categ. JCR: ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES rank: 124 / 273 = 0.454 (2020) - Q2 - T2
Categ. JCR: ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES rank: 60 / 125 = 0.48 (2020) - Q2 - T2
Categ. JCR: GREEN & SUSTAINABLE SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY rank: 30 / 44 = 0.682 (2020) - Q3 - T3
Categ. JCR: GREEN & SUSTAINABLE SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY rank: 6 / 9 = 0.667 (2020) - Q3 - T3

Factor impacto SCIMAGO: 0.611 - Energy Engineering and Power Technology (Q1) - Environmental Science (miscellaneous) (Q1) - Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment (Q1) - Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law (Q1) - Geography, Planning and Development (Q1)

Financiación: info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/DGA/Economía Agroalimentaria y de los Recursos Naturales

Tipo y forma: Article (Published version)

Área (Departamento): Área Econom.Sociol.Polit.Agra. (Dpto. CC.Agrar.y Medio Natural)