Dominique Barjolle · Matthew Gorton Jasna Milošević Đorđević Žaklina Stojanović Editors Food Consumer Science Theories, Methods and Application to the Western Balkans Food Consumer Science Dominique Barjolle (cid:129) Matthew Gorton Jasna Milošević Ðorđević (cid:129) Žaklina Stojanovi ć Editors Food Consumer Science Theories, Methods and Application to the Western Balkans Editors Dominique Barjolle Matthew Gorton Institute for Environmental Decisions Newcastle University Business School ETH Zürich , Zürich , Newcastle upon Tyne Switzerland Nairnshire , UK Jasna Milošević Ðorđević Žaklina Stojanović Ipsos Strategic Marketing University of Belgrade Belgrade , Serbia Belgrade , Serbia ISBN 978-94-007-5945-9 ISBN 978-94-007-5946-6 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-94-007-5946-6 Springer Dordrecht Heidelberg New York London Library of Congress Control Number: 2013934347 © Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2013 This work is subject to copyright. 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Printed on acid-free paper Springer is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com) Foreword: Food Consumer Science at Crossroads Wim Verbeke, Ph.D. Keywords Food consumer science (cid:129)Health claims (cid:129)Organic products (cid:129)Traditional foods Abbreviations EU European Union EUFIC European Food Information Council TSG Traditional Speciality Guaranteed Food consumer science is at the crossroad of a multitude of scienti fi c disciplines and interests. Research methods mainly originate from social sciences such as eco- nomics, marketing, psychology and sociology, while the most common applications bend towards the natural sciences related to agriculture, food and nutrition. The exploration of this crossroad presents a challenging and rewarding domain with numerous opportunities to contribute to a better understanding of (the determinants of) food choice and consumer decision-making and in extension also to more effective public policy, industry competitiveness, societal welfare and human well-being. Not only has the European Union (EU) undergone fundamental changes during the last 15 years, also food consumer science has been a fi eld of continuous evolution. After a major focus on food safety, risk perception and risk communication since the mid-1990s, the attention has gradually expanded to cover also nutrition, diet and health and further to sustainability and food authenticity most recently. The number of peer-reviewed scienti fi c papers on food consumer issues in Web of Science has more than tripled during the last decade, together with a substantial increase in the number of journals, research groups and scientists active in the fi eld. This book with its focus on food consumer science in the Western Balkan countries is a welcome addition to current knowledge base. Besides providing an overview of theoretical and economic foundations for food consumer science, it also illustrates qualitative and quantitative food consumer research applied to sectors and product v vi Foreword: Food Consumer Science at Crossroads groups with a high degree of relevance to the Western Balkan countries, a region that stayed previously undeserved out of the picture. Yet, justi fi cations for a stronger focus on food consumer science in this region are numerous. Food and beverages occupy a high share of household expenditure, up to 30–40% in some cases as docu- mented in this book, which underscores the importance of the economic and social dimensions of food choice. The strong gastronomic cultural heritage of the region provides many excellent quality traditional foods, though unknown to most EU con- sumers and therefore leaving a lot of potential unexploited. Food choice motives and barriers display similarities as well as important dissimilarities as compared to other regions of the EU (Milosevic et al. 2012); measurement scales and con- structs may have to be operationalised differently, and other moderators and media- tors may emerge in different degrees when explaining food choice. Last but not least, local economic, social, political, technological and structural forces in the food marketing environment shape a speci fi c frame for food production, product differentiation, marketing strategies and public food policy. The case studies presented in this book cover some highly topical products and industries from the European perspective. While functional foods have been an interesting case for consumer research for almost two decades (Verbeke 2005), this interest gained additional momentum following the approval of the EU regula- tion 1924/2006 on nutrition and health claims made on foods (Verbeke et al. 2009). Organic and traditional foods in turn are two of the cornerstones of the present EU agricultural quality policy. The establishment of the new EU organic logo and the growing interest for quality indications, such as the Traditional Speciality Guaranteed (TSG) label, as part of the food quality policy illustrate the topicality of this focus. In each of these cases, consumer issues were at the basis of the recent evolutions and shift of emphasis. European consumers have shown a growing interest in food quality rather than quantity. European food policy advocates the overall objective to ensure a high level of protection of European consumers (e.g. from exposure to inferior quality food and misleading information), to provide consumers with the necessary information to make informed (and when possible, also healthier) choices, to guarantee reliable quality food and to foster fair competition and strengthen com- petitiveness across the European food industry. A better understanding of consumer awareness, attitudes and behaviour, as well as insight in stakeholder and industry positions, and in the role and impact of market structures and macro-environmental conditions is key for successfully reaching such objectives. European studies in food consumer science consistently show that the classical and readily identi fi able socio-demographic characteristics like age, gender, house- hold composition and living environment explain limited variance in food choice. Cross-cultural differences in food choice and its determinants are substantial across Europe. With respect to foods with nutrition and health claims, for example, fami- liarity with the product, the ingredient and the claim, as well as the perceived per- sonal relevance of food and health have been shown to be important determinants of product acceptance, yet little is known about how health claims and symbols actually in fl uence food choice (EUFIC 2012). Meanwhile, the identi fi cation of differences between consumers and countries in their response to foods with health claims has Foreword: Food Consumer Science at Crossroads vii been acknowledged as a challenge for research and policy making. It has also been demonstrated that a European consumer-based de fi nition of traditional foods con- tains both commonly shared elements, such as an association with a long existence and heritage or a high degree of familiarity and authenticity, as well as elements not equally shared across cultures, for example, the association with special occasions, the notion of locality or naturalness (Vanhonacker et al. 2010). In a similar vein, the marketplace success of organic foods differs to a great extent depending on the country or region. While the role of classical socio-demographic characteristics in explaining cross-cultural variance is rather limited (Aertsens et al. 2009), the potential role of other personal factors, such as attitudes, norms, values, motives and diffe- rences, in the macro-environment deserves further attention as explanatory variables for organic food consumption. While consumer insights from a selected number of countries may suf fic e to understand some of the basic principles at stake, further validation in speci fi c environments and cross-cultural settings is required to complete the picture. This underscores the need for extending food consumer science expertise, insights and networks beyond the borders of countries or regions traditionally involved or covered in previous studies. The activities performed by the FOCUS BALKANS consortium, part of which are documented in the present book, offer consumer scientists all over Europe and beyond an excellent opportunity to become acquainted with some of the speci fi cities of food consumer science and food choice in Western Balkan countries, as well as with the expertise of the research groups active in this particular science domain in these new EU member states, acceding (or potential) candidate countries. This volume herewith forms a valuable resource for food consumer science scholars seeking to expand their personal expertise and scienti fi c networks. References Aertsens J, Verbeke W, Mondelaers K, Van Huylenbroeck G (2009) Personal determinants of organic food consumption: a review. Br Food J 111:1140–1167 EUFIC (2012) Can health claims and symbols lead to healthier eating habits? CLYMBOL press release, h ttp://www.eu fi c.org/jpage/en/page/PRESS/fftid/clymbol-healthclaims-symbols . Accessed 27 Sept 2012 Milosevic J, Zezelj I, Gorton M, Barjolle D (2012) Understanding the motives for food choice in Westerns Balkan Countries. Appetite 58:205–214 Vanhonacker F, Verbeke W, Guerrero L, Claret A, Contel M, Scalvedi L, Zakowska-Biemans S, Gutkowska K, Sulmot-Rossé C, Raude J, Gransli BS, Hersleth M (2010) How European consumers de fi ne the concept of traditional food: evidence from a survey in six countries. Agribusiness 26:453–476 Verbeke W (2005) Consumer acceptance of functional foods: socio-demographic, cognitive and attitudinal determinants. Food Qual Prefer 16:45–57 Verbeke W, Scholderer J, Lähteenmäki L (2009) Consumer appeal of nutrition and health claims in three existing product concepts. Appetite 52:684–692 Acknowledgments This book is the result of a 3-years European research project funded by the European Commission and the associated countries. The FOCUS BALKANS project was granted from 1 October 2008 until 30 September 2012 (Grant Number: 212 579), with more than 75 researchers collaborating in 14 countries including Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia. The challenge was to improve existing networks and to establish a new network of scientists, private companies, nongovernmental organisations and public bodies competent in the topic of food consumer science. Thanks to the effort of the whole team, the research was conducted in an excel- lent way, respecting the quality and the timeline. A big thank goes to all researchers having made this possible. The preparation of the project was a very hard work and was essentially made possible by Pascal Bernardoni, SEEDEV, Magali Estève, AGRIDEA, and Martine Zaouche-Laniau, GEM. Without their knowledge and networks, this project would not have been born, and we express our gratitude to them especially. Editing the whole book was an enormous work done by Loredana Sorg, junior researcher at ETH, and we would like to congratulate and thank her warmly here. We hope this book will support researchers and students, and we wish all a very active learning-by-doing process. This was reached within the FOCUS BALKANS project and has clearly shown that it is the most ef fi cient way to acquire advanced skills in the fi eld of food consumer science. ix