scholarly journals  Consumers’ perception of the health aspects of organic food

2013 ◽  
Vol 59 (No. 7) ◽  
pp. 293-299 ◽  
Author(s):  
O. Kutnohorská ◽  
P. Tomšík

Organic foods are grown using the principles of organic agriculture that are produced, processed and packaged without using chemicals. They have been accepted due to their several perceived benefits over the conventional food. Health aspects of organic food are, in addition to the ethical, environmental, hedonic and “feel good” aspects, the main benefits that the consumers appreciate in organic food. This paper presents the results of a quantitative survey in the Czech organic food market. By using the factor analysis, it showed that the consumer perception of the health benefits of organic food can be viewed from several different angles. There were found three factors that explain 58.42% of variability, which are, based on their relationship with the original items, interpreted as the “knowledge and responsibility”, “being aware, but lax” and “health is important, but not related to food”. The first factor contains enough knowledge related to the health care, the conviction of the importance of food choice regarding health and the active interest and effort to do something for one’s health. The second factor contains enough knowledge related to health care, but is lacking the interest to apply the knowledge and to do something for one’s health, and the third factor contains the conviction that health is an important asset, but the perception of the connection between one’s health and food is absent.  

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 561-579
Author(s):  
A.A. Leksina ◽  
◽  
E.A. Aleshina ◽  

Organic agriculture is a promising and increasingly demanded direction of “greening” agricultural activity, which has a great potential due to natural production technologies. Significant segments of organic products have been formed in the food markets of the developed countries; various institutional systems of the industry have been functioning for decades. Russian agribusiness is globally lagging behind in these matters, but the development of the economic environment has led to the objective necessity of adopting a law and a state standard that would define the requirements for the organic agriculture. Research on the prospects of the Russian food market in the global organic production system is becoming relevant. This work is a two-sided quantitative and qualitative approach to the study of existing production systems of organic food from the standpoint of the results and dynamics, on the one hand, and their organizational and economic structure, on the other. The findings and results are confirmed by the presented and systematized absolute and relative indicators of land areas certified for organic agriculture, the number of market entities, the consumption of organic food per capita and retail sales in the domestic markets. The qualitative characteristic of organic agriculture systems was reflected in constructing a set of schemes that clearly illustrate national features of the conduct methods, state regulation of production and turnover, research support, regulatory and supervisory support of the business under study. As a result, a comparative analysis of the leading world markets for organic food (USA, Germany, Canada and Austria) in comparison with the emerging market of Russia. The study is addressed to the global business community operating in the organic food market and to special research institutions.


Author(s):  
Bilge Ozturk Goktuna ◽  
Nazife Merve Hamzaoğlu

Conventional agriculture has long been criticized about its negative externalities on issues like public health, environment, biodiversity, and all ecological systems on the planet such as environmental pollution, soil erosion, reduction of animal welfare, and negative impacts of GMOs. As an alternative production system to address these problems, organic agriculture has been developed worldwide since the 1970s. In this chapter, an overview of organic agriculture and food market is given and a comparative analysis between organic agricultural markets in EU, US, and Turkey is made after an outlook on the world organic food market. It is seen that EU and US are forthcoming leaders in the organic food market, whilst Turkey remains behind many developed countries in terms of organic production, per capita consumption, and retail sales.


Nutrients ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 1877 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yangbo Sun ◽  
Buyun Liu ◽  
Yang Du ◽  
Linda Snetselaar ◽  
Qi Sun ◽  
...  

Background: The organic food market has grown rapidly worldwide in the past 15 years. However, evidence concerning the health effects of organic foods is scarce. We evaluated the cross-sectional association of organic food purchase, as a proxy of organic food consumption, with diabetes in a nationally representative population. Methods: We included 8199 participants aged ≥20 years from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2007–2008 and 2009–2010. Organic food purchase and frequency were ascertained by questionnaires. Diabetes was defined as a self-reported physician diagnosis or a hemoglobin A1c level ≥6.5% or both. We used logistic regression with sample weights to estimate the odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Results: Individuals who reported purchasing organic foods were less likely to have diabetes compared to those who did not report organic food purchase. After adjustment for age, gender, race/ethnicity, family history of diabetes, socioeconomic status, and dietary and lifestyle factors, the OR of diabetes associated with organic food purchase was 0.80 (95% CI 0.68–0.93). The association remained significant after additional adjustment for BMI with OR of 0.80 (0.69–0.94). Conclusions: In a nationally representative population, frequent organic food purchase was inversely associated with diabetes prevalence in adults in the United States.


2020 ◽  
pp. 144078332090563
Author(s):  
Michael Gilding ◽  
Lee Glezos

A substantial literature demonstrates how social movements pioneer new economic spaces, engaging in activities that create the conditions for new markets. This article applies this insight to the creation of the organic food market in Australia. In doing so, it makes three contributions. First, it highlights the importance of judgement devices – notably a certification scheme – in the making of this market, given that organic and non-organic produce are visually indistinguishable. Second, it describes how judgement devices for organic foods draw commodity markets for mainstream agricultural foods into the symbolic realm, where health, ethical and aesthetic considerations inform value. Third, it demonstrates the socio-political construction of judgement devices, over and above their functional purposes. Specifically, it describes the struggle between challenger social movements and incumbent businesses in creating and promoting competing judgement devices directed towards the designation of value in new markets.


2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (51) ◽  
pp. 11-18
Author(s):  
Maja Ćirić ◽  
Svetlana Ignjatijević ◽  
Dragan Ilić ◽  
Nikola Puvača ◽  
Sandra Brkanlić

There is a significant amount of research in the world on the factors that influence consumers' decision to buy organic food using traditional sales channels. There is also a lot of research related to the factors that influence consumer decision to online shop groceries. However, to our knowledge, there is an extremely modest amount of research on how and why consumers decide to online shop organic food. The Covid-19 pandemic has led to an increase in consumer propensity to shop online, so this topic has gained in importance. Therefore, the aim of this paper was to determine the factors that most influenced consumers' decision to online shop organic food during the Covid-19 Pandemic. The survey was carried out in Serbia by using a questionnaire developed specifically for this purpose, based on questions from 9 relevant surveys in the world. Factor analysis and standard multiple regressions were used to analyze the data obtained from the survey. Four factors have been identified that influenced the online shopping organic food during the Covid-19 Pandemic. The first and most important factor is the Attributes of organic food and deterrents for purchasing. The second important factor is the advantages of online shopping, Covid-19 Pandemic consequences, and organic food labeling. While the third factor (Website characteristics and satisfaction with online shopping) and the fourth factor (Safety of online shopping) are of minor importance. At the end of the paper recommendations for improvement marketing strategy for online selling organic food are given.


2014 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 64-70 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerardo H. Nunez ◽  
Alisson P. Kovaleski ◽  
Rebecca L. Darnell

Consumer perception plays an important role in the decision to purchase organic vs. conventional produce. A web-based survey was used to evaluate perceptions and purchase behavior toward organic produce in a sample population of college-aged students. The effect of formal education on this perception was also investigated. Most subjects in this sample population were aware of and had positive perceptions of organic produce and organic agriculture. The likelihood of being an organic consumer was similar across genders, ages, and fields of study. Subjects who reported to be organic consumers associated less risk with organic produce than those who reported to never have purchased organic produce. A 50-minute lecture about organic agriculture altered the perception students had about organic produce. After the lecture, students expressed bleaker perceptions about the health benefits and ethical soundness of organic agriculture. On the other hand, after the lecture students expressed a more positive perception of the policies and regulations that govern the organic foods market. Overall, data suggest that students’ perception of organic produce and agriculture is based on anecdotal evidence and that formal education on the topic of organic agriculture can affect this perception.


Author(s):  
Dagmar Kozelová ◽  
Martina Fikselová ◽  
Vladimír Vietoris ◽  
Peter Czako

The aim of this work was to determine whether Slovak consumers buy organic food, to analyze the frequency of organic food shopping and to examine the monthly expenditure of organic food. Questionnaire survey involved 271 respondents. The hierarchical multiple factor analysis was used for the segregation and classification of consumers into representative groups. The group of respondents was based on algorithms divided into three groups. The first group consists of those respondents who do not buy organic food. In the second group of respondents, prevalent was occasional purchase of organic food. Prevailing monthly expenditure on buying organic food is the amount of 10–15 euros. The third group of respondents does weekly shopping of organic foods, these foods make costs mostly 15 to 20 euros per month.


2018 ◽  
Vol 120 (1) ◽  
pp. 44-58 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yaser Sobhanifard

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore a hybrid model of the consumption of organic foods, combining the use of exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and an artificial neural network (ANN). Design/methodology/approach The study has three phases. In the first phase, the Delphi method is employed, and 15 motives for the consumption of organic food are identified; these motives are used to develop the model in the second phase. Finally, in the last phase, an ANN is used to rank the motives to determine their priority. Findings The EFA model explored includes four factors that have a positive effect on the level of organic food consumption. These are naturalness, trust, sanitariness and marketing. Results from the use of an ANN indicate that the main variables in organic food consumption are claims, psychological variables and doubt. From the results of the EFA model it is clear these three variables are components of the factor of trust. Practical implications Marketers can use the model developed in this paper to satisfy the needs of their customers and hence enhance their market share and profitability. This study shows that improvements in truth in the claims made for organic products, perceived security from using these products and doubts about the safety of other foods can lead marketers to their goal. Informative advertisements can inculcate trust and naturalness among consumers as main factors. Originality/value The main contribution of this study is the light it sheds on how consumers think about organic foods. It develops a model incorporating motives for consuming organic food and determining the priorities held by consumers of organic foods.


2019 ◽  
pp. 641-654

The purpose of the paper is to reveal and analyse the main motives affecting the attitudes and purchasing models of organic foods in Bulgaria. The explanation of these motives is essential with regard to the adequate influencing of consumer behaviour with the purpose of maintaining the dynamics of the organic food market and its sustainable development in the future. Answers to the following research questions are sought consecutively: (1) What are the attitudes of Bulgarian consumers towards organic foods? (2) What are the main motives affecting the nonbuying of organic foods and restricting their consumption? (3) What are the main motives affecting the purchase of organic foods and stimulating their consumption?


2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (51) ◽  
pp. 89-95
Author(s):  
Milica Čolović ◽  
Vladimir Mitić

The situation with the virus Covide-19 worldwide, in addition to the many questions of how to best protect ourselves, drew the attention of people and professional community, to the significance and the importance that a healthy nutrition has in preserving and building up immunity, and thus also in the prevention and protect the organism from various negative agents. Due to increased consumer concern for their own health and the environment the organic food market is one of the fastest growing markets in the food industry. The main goal of the current research is to examine determinant factors influencing organic foods purchase in our region. The sample consisted of 571 subjects from Serbia and the region. The data were processed by the SPSS program, and the obtained results show that in our country, as well as anywhere in the world, the price is the most common barrier in the situation of buying organic food. Gender of our subjects was not a significant factor in making the decision and realization of the purchase, while their marital status and age had an influence in making the mentioned decision. In general, our research showed that younger respondents, who are not married, are the most common buyers of organic food.


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