EXPLORING CONSUMER PREFERENCES AND FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH VEGETABLE CONSUMPTION
Abstract
The consumers’ preferences and their reasons for vegetable consumption were examined with the aim to provide useful information to increase the consumption of these food items. Consumers’ general viewpoints about vegetable consumption were examined using an online questionnaire. The study was conducted on a sample of 711 respondents chosen randomly and obtained data were analyzed by the correspondence analysis. Results suggest that consumers consider vegetables as tasty, easy to use and healthy for consumption. The main drawbacks for vegetable consumption are safety issues, short shelf-life and high price. In order to increase the consumption of these foodstuffs, each type of fresh and processed vegetable should have a specifically designed campaign, emphasizing its specific attribute. Obtained results might provide an insight into the current state of consumers’ behavior in Serbia and might be useful for creating specific promotional programs and more appropriate communication strategies aiming to increase consumers’ knowledge about the importance of regular vegetable consumption. They should raise consumers’ awareness by emphasizing the importance of adequate daily vegetable consumption. This, in turn, should improve public health and reduce the health and economic costs of massive chronic diseases caused by inadequate diet.
References
Abou-Arab, A. A. K. (1999). Behavior of pesticides in tomatoes during commercial and home preparation. Food Chemistry, 65(4), 509-514. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0308-8146(98)00231-3
Aguilera, A., Valverde, A., Camacho, F., Boulaid, M., & García-Fuentes, L. (2014). Household processing factors of acrinathrin, fipronil, kresoxim-methyl and pyridaben residues in green beans. Food Control, 35(1), 146-152. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodcont.2013.06.038
Allen, L., Williams, J., Townsend, N., Mikkelsen, B., Roberts, N., Foster, C., & Wickramasinghe, K. (2017). Socioeconomic status and non-communicable disease behavioural risk factors in low-income and lower-middle-income countries: a systematic review. The Lancet Global Health, 5(3), e277-e289. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2214-109X(17)30058-X
Anaya-Esparza, L. M., Velázquez-Estrada, R. M., Roig, A. X., García-Galindo, H. S., Sayago-Ayerdi, S. G., & Montalvo-González, E. (2017). Thermosonication: An alternative processing for fruit and vegetable juices. Trends in Food Science & Technology, 61, 26-37. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tifs.2016.11.020
Arce, S., Gugole Ottaviano, F., & Sosa, M. (2021). Sensory acceptability, consumption frequency, and factors associated with consumption of fruits and vegetables among low and medium income consumers in Argentina. Journal of Sensory Studies, 36(2), https://doi.org/10.1111/joss.12632
Beh, E. J. (2004). Simple correspondence analysis: a bibliographic review. International Statistical Review, 72(2), 257-284. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1751-5823.2004.tb00236.x
Baselice, A., Colantuoni, F., Lass, D. A., Nardone, G., & Stasi, A. (2017). Trends in EU consumers’ attitude towards fresh-cut fruit and vegetables. Food Quality and Preference, 59, 87-96. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodqual.2017.01.008
Blanchard, C. M., Kupperman, J., Sparling, P. B., Nehl, E., Rhodes, R. E., Courneya, K. S., & Baker, F. (2009). Do ethnicity and gender matter when using the theory of planned behavior to understand fruit and vegetable consumption? Appetite, 52(1), 15-20. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2008.07.001
Boeing, H., Bechthold, A., Bub, A., Ellinger, S., Haller, D., Kroke, A., Leschik-Bonnet, E., Müller, M. J., Oberritter, H., Schulze, M., Stehle, P., & Watzl, B. (2012). Critical review: vegetables and fruit in the prevention of chronic diseases. European Journal of Nutrition, 51(6), 637-663. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00394-012-0380-y.
Brown, C. (2003). Consumers' preferences for locally produced food: A study in southeast Missouri. American Journal of Alternative Agriculture, 213-224. https://doi.org/10.1079/AJAA200353
Cengiz, M. F., Certel, M., & Göçmen, H. (2006). Residue contents of DDVP (Dichlorvos) and diazinon applied on cucumbers grown in greenhouses and their reduction by duration of a pre-harvest interval and post-harvest culinary applications. Food Chemistry, 98(1), 127-135. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodchem.2005.05.064
Chapman, K., Goldsbury, D., Watson, W., Havill, M., Wellard, L., Hughes, C., Bauman, A., & Allman-Farinelli, M. (2017). Exploring perceptions and beliefs about the cost of fruit and vegetables and whether they are barriers to higher consumption. Appetite, 113, 310-319. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2017.02.043
Coulibaly, O., Nouhoheflin, T., Aitchedji, C. C., Cherry, A. J., & Adegbola, P. (2011). Consumers' perceptions and willingness to pay for organically grown vegetables. International Journal of Vegetable Science, 17(4), 349-362. https://doi.org/10.1080/19315260.2011.563276.
Emanuel, A. S., McCully, S. N., Gallagher, K. M., & Updegraff, J. A. (2012). Theory of planned behavior explains gender difference in fruit and vegetable consumption. Appetite, 59(3), 693-697. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2012.08.007.
Featherstone, S. (Ed.). (2015). A complete course in canning and related processes: Volume 3 Processing procedures for canned food products. Woodhead Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-85709-679-1.00001-5
Giner, M. J., Hizarci, Õ., Martí, N., Saura, D., & Valero, M. (2013). Novel approaches to reduce brown pigment formation and color changes in thermal pasteurized tomato juice. European Food Research and Technology, 236(3), 507-515. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00217-012-1900-y
Greenacre, M. (2017). Correspondence analysis in practice (3rd ed.). Chapman and Hall/CRC.
Guerrero, J. F. J., Abad, J. C. G., García, R. H., & Jiménez, J. A. M. (2012). Estimating consumer preferences for extrinsic and intrinsic attributes of vegetables. A study of German consumers. Spanish Journal of Agricultural Research, 10(3), 539-551. http://dx.doi.org/10.5424/sjar/2012103-342-11
Hoffman, D. L., & Franke, G. R. (1986). Correspondence analysis: graphical representation of categorical data in marketing research. Journal of Marketing Research, 23(3), 213-227. https://doi.org/10.1177/002224378602300302
Hough, G., & Ferraris, D. (2010). Free listing: A method to gain initial insight of a food category. Food Quality and Preference, 21(3), 295-301. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodqual.2009.04.001
Institute of Public Health of Serbia (2019). Health statistical yearbook of Republic of Serbia, year 2018 (p. 527). Belgrade: Institute of Public Health of Serbia “Dr Milan Jovanović Batut“ http://www.batut.org.rs/download/publikacije/pub2018.pdf?fbclid=IwAR0EF0AdMIu.
Ion, R. A. (2015). Fruits and vegetables market in Romania: Better understand consumers' preferences. In the 6th Edition of the International Symposium on Agrarian Economy and Rural Development-Realities and Perspectives for Romania (pp. 426-433). Bucharest, Romania. http://hdl.handle.net/10419/163338.
Ivy, J. (2001). Higher education institution image: a correspondence analysis approach. International Journal of Educational Management. https://doi.org/10.1108/09513540110401484.
Jha, P. K., Xanthakis, E., Chevallier, S., Jury, V., & Le-Bail, A. (2019). Assessment of freeze damage in fruits and vegetables. Food Research International, 121, 479-496. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodres.2018.12.002.
Lebart, L. (1984). Correspondence analysis of graph structure. Bulletin Technique du CESIA, Paris, 2, 5-19.
Li, L., Pegg, R. B., Eitenmiller, R. R., Chun, J. Y., & Kerrihard, A. L. (2017). Selected nutrient analyses of fresh, fresh-stored, and frozen fruits and vegetables. Journal of Food Composition and Analysis, 59, 8-17. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfca.2017.02.002.
Liu, F., Zhang, X., Zhao, L., Wang, Y., & Liao, X. (2016). Potential of high-pressure processing and high-temperature/short-time thermal processing on microbial, physicochemical and sensory assurance of clear cucumber juice. Innovative Food Science & Emerging Technologies, 34, 51-58. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ifset.2015.12.030.
Menozzi, D., Sogari, G., & Mora, C. (2015). Explaining vegetable consumption among young adults: An application of the theory of planned behaviour. Nutrients, 7(9), 7633-7650. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu7095357.
Mihajlović, Š., Vukelić, N., Novković, N., & Mutavdžić, B. (2019). Vegetable prices in Serbia–tendencies and forecasting. Ekonomika poljoprivrede, 66(2), 485-498. https://doi.org/10.5937/ekoPolj1902485S.
Nguyen, B., Bauman, A., Gale, J., Banks, E., Kritharides, L., & Ding, D. (2016). Fruit and vegetable consumption and all-cause mortality: evidence from a large Australian cohort study. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 13(1), 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12966-016-0334-5.
Pucarević, M. (2008). Pesticide residues in fruits and vegetables. Zbornik radova Instituta za ratarstvo i povrtarstvo, 45(1), 195-203.
Rawson, A., Patras, A., Tiwari, B. K., Noci, F., Koutchma, T., & Brunton, N. (2011). Effect of thermal and non thermal processing technologies on the bioactive content of exotic fruits and their products: Review of recent advances. Food Research International, 44(7), 1875-1887. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodres.2011.02.053.
Renard, C. M., Ginies, C., Gouble, B., Bureau, S., & Causse, M. (2013). Home conservation strategies for tomato (Solanum lycopersicum): Storage temperature vs. duration–Is there a compromise for better aroma preservation? Food Chemistry, 139(1-4), 825-836. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodchem.2013.01.038.
Rickman, J.C., Barrett, D.M., & Bruhn, C.M. (2007). Nutritional comparison of fresh, frozen and canned fruits and vegetables. Part 1. Vitamins C and B and phenolic compounds. Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, 87, 930-944. https://doi.org/10.1002/jsfa.2825
Rodić-Trmčić, B., Ivanović, M., & Ilić, V. (2015). The quality of nourishment in the population across the regions of the Republic of Serbia from 2011 to 2013. PONS-medicinski časopis, 12(2), 58-63. https://doi.org/10.5937/pomc12-9098.
Viana, F. M., Deliza, R., Monteiro, M. L. G., Martins, I. B., de Oliveira, D. C., & Conte-Junior, C. A. (2021). Applying free word association to understand the perception of fish as a meal by Brazilians with different consumption frequencies. Journal of Sensory Studies, 36(2), e12628. https://doi.org/10.1111/joss.12628.
Wood, K., Carragher, J., & Davis, R. (2017). Australian consumers' insights into potatoes-Nutritional knowledge, perceptions and beliefs. Appetite, 114, 169-174. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2017.03.038.
World Health Organization (2003). Diet, Nutrition and the Prevention of Chronic Diseases. WHO Technical Report Series 916.Geneva: WHO. http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/42665/WHO_TRS_916.pdf;jsessionid=8551E0A498ED22F19423BB8B891AEA24?sequence=1
Zeinstra, G. G., Koelen, M. A., Kok, F. J., & De Graaf, C. (2007). Cognitive development and children's perceptions of fruit and vegetables; a qualitative study. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 4(1), 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1186/1479-5868-4-30.