In recent years, it seems that consumers are generally uncertain about the safety and quality of their food and their risk perception differs substantially from that of experts. Hormone and veterinary drug residues in meat persist to occupy a high position in European consumers' food concern rankings. The aim of this contribution is to provide a better understanding to food risk analysts of why consumers behave as they do with respect to food safety and risk information. This paper presents some cases of seemingly irrational and inconsistent consumer behaviour with respect to food safety and risk information and provides explanations for these behaviours based on the nature of the risk and individual psychological processes. Potential solutions for rebuilding consumer confidence in food safety and bridging between lay and expert opinions towards food risks are reviewed. These include traceability and labelling, segmented communication approaches and public involvement in risk management decision-making.

Why Consumers Behave as They do with Respect to Food Safety and Risk Information

Food Safety Economics combines the fields of food safety and economics to investigate the allocation of scarce resources and decisions made by economic actors in the food supply chain related to food safety management. Food safety economics provides insights into the economic consequences of contaminated food placed on the market, cost-effective control and monitoring of food safety hazards, the attitude of producers and consumers towards these measures, and incentives of farmers and producers to apply these measures. Research in food safety economics is relatively new and scattered. Comprehensive methods that take into account multiple aspects of food safety economics and stakeholders’ preferences increase transparency and facilitate the design of effective food safety control and monitoring and related policy making.

Economics applied to food safety

The evolution of food safety risk communication: Models and trends in the past and the future

This report assesses peer-reviewed and grey literature on risk communication concepts and practices, as requested by the European Commission to support the implementation of a 'General Plan for Risk Communication', i.e. an integrated framework for EU food safety risk assessors and risk managers at Union and national level, as required by the revised EU General Food Law Regulation. We conducted a scoping review of social research studies and official reports in relation to risk communication in the following areas: understanding and awareness of risk analysis roles and tasks, reducing misunderstanding of the different meaning of the terms 'hazard' and 'risk', tackling misinformation and disinformation, enhancing confidence in EU food safety, taking account of risk perceptions, key factors in trade-offs about risks, audience segmentation and tools, channels and mechanisms for coordinated risk communications. We structured our findings as follows: i) definitions of key concepts, ii) audience analysis and information requirements, iii) risk profiling, models and mechanisms, iv) contributions to communication strategies. We make several recommendations for consideration by the Commission, both in terms of actions to support the design and implementation of the general plan, and research needs that we consider crucial to further inform appropriate risk communication in the EU. EFSA carried out a targeted consultation of experts and a public consultation open to all interested parties including the general public, in preparing and finalising this report.

Technical assistance in the field of risk communication

Essential oils derived from plant materials are a mixture of compounds that exhibit antibacterial properties. Due to their distinct aroma, they also serve as a desirable natural additive for various food products, including dairy products. In this study, the essential oils of lemon peels, clove buds, and juniper berries were obtained by steam distillation and characterized using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry to determine their chemical compositions and effects on the viability of seven Bifidobacterium strains. Furthermore, the effect of essential oils on the viability of Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis Bb-12 was investigated in cream samples during fermentation and after storage for 21 days at 6 °C. The fatty acid composition of fat extracted from essential oils containing sour cream samples and the volatile aroma compound profile of the sour cream samples were also determined chromatographically. Among the 120 compounds identified, monoterpene hydrocarbons were dominant in the essential oils of lemon peels (limonene and γ-terpinene) and juniper berries (sabinene and β-myrcene), while eugenol and eugenol acetate were abundant in the essential oil of clove buds. In addition to these compounds, butanoic and acetic acids were found in the tested sour cream samples. In turn, fat extracted from these samples was rich in saturated fatty acids, mainly palmitic acid. Among the tested strains of the genus Bifidobacterium, B. animalis subsp. lactis Bb-12 was the most sensitive to the essential oils of clove and juniper, as indicated by the larger growth inhibition zones. However, both the concentration and type of essential oils used had no effect on the number of cells of this strain present in the cream samples immediately after fermentation and after its 21-day storage, which suggests that the tested essential oils could be a natural additive to dairy products.

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The Effect of Essential Oils on the Survival of Bifidobacterium in In Vitro Conditions and in Fermented Cream

Modification of dairy products’ fat composition or replacement by other fats are common practices in the industry. Products in which milkfat is partially or wholly substituted by vegetable fats are defined as dairy analogues. This study delivers gap-filling information about sour cream analogues in nutritional aspects, focusing on the fat-related attributes. Analogue sour creams contained 29.6% less saturated fatty acids, 88.4% less cholesterol and 88.7% more mono- and poly-unsaturated fatty acids than the sour creams. Trans fatty acids were present in both products, which could not be linked to artificial hydrogenation in either case. Digestibility of the examined samples might be different, as sour creams had more short and medium chain fatty acids than the analogues. Overall, sour cream analogues, besides serving as an alternative to sour cream, have particular advantages based on their nutritional values.

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Differences Between Fat-Related Characteristics of Sour Cream and Sour Cream Analogues

In recent years, there have been many changes in the food market, which have greatly transformed our approach to food chain supervision. The increasing complexity of the food chain (e.g. globalization of food trade, expansion of raw materials and additives, technical advancement), the frequent changes in food consumption trends and the phenomenon of food crime belong to the most challenging issues for food chain control institutions. These factors require the re-evaluation of the role of consumers in the food chain. The overall aim of this research was to explore consumers’ risk perception and risk avoidance for a more efficient, targeted risk communication. In the survey 1003, face-to-face interviews were made using questionnaire. The statistical analysis of data was followed by the identification and characterization of 4 relevant target groups with cluster analysis method: disinterested youngsters (17.0%), conscious elders (39.4%), food adepts (27.5%), and soul of the family (16.1%). Results indicated,...

Possibilities of targeting in food chain safety risk communication

Consumption of dietary supplements (DS) has been showing a persistent, rapidly growing tendency all over the world. A new branch has been created on the borderline of food and pharmaceutical industries. It is a general tendency that the policy and regulation towards the products of this branch are lagging far behind the practice. This is an especially important problem with adolescents. To work out an efficient regulatory framework, we have to have an adequate picture on consumer behaviour and attitudes towards these products. Based on literature analysis of two focus group interviews, we have developed a motivational model on usage of DS, which has been tasted during a direct-question survey involving more than 500 respondents. Our results have proven that the consumption of DS is proliferated among young recreational athletes. One quarter of them consumes proteins, one tenth L-carnitine at least 2–3 times a week. The most important motivational factor is the improvement of sport performance. The level o...

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Use and abuse of dietary supplements for adolescents — Results of a survey among Hungarian recreational athletes

Salmonellosis is a widely known infectious disease in Hungary that played dominant role between 1960 and 1996 and remained one of the top food-borne illnesses to these days with an estimated total number of 96 048 cases (2019). Beside direct costs of treatment, indirect costs are also significant on the level of population. Among indirect costs, consumer well-being losses are difficult to be estimated. For this purpose, the willingness to pay (WTP) method is used most frequently that measures the cost an individual would undertake to avoid a certain harm. For the well-being loss estimation, the data of National Food Chain Safety Authority's annual consumer survey was used, in which 323 respondents gave evaluable answer to the open-ended WTP question. Results indicate that an average respondent would pay 18.6 EUR to avoid salmonellosis. Main factors affecting WTP were size of family and number of children. The numbers indicate that the consumer well-being loss could be about 1 786 060 EUR annually, resulting from the multiplication of the estimated number of annual salmonellosis cases and the average WTP value. It can be concluded that consumer well-being losses alone would call for further interventions in Salmonella eradication, not to mention other – more direct – cost elements.

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Consumers's willingness to pay for avoiding Salmonella infection

\nThe aim of this research was to assess the consumer habits of lactose sensitive persons in case of lactose-free products and their other shopping aspects for development of new, dairy-based lactose-free products. The research was based on face-to-face questionnaire survey, and those who declared to be lactose sensitive were analysed. Among them, only half of the women (49.3%) and one third of the men (34.6%) were medically proven lactose sensitive, so more than half of the respondents declared themselves affected on the basis of self-diagnosis. Our results show that reliably regular customers of lactose-free products are women and persons with medical diagnosis, high educational degree, and under the age of 30. The lactose-free consumer group prefers the following product features: lactose-free label; rich in calcium, vitamins, and fibre, and free of carbohydrate, sugar, and gluten. Only two-thirds of lactose sensitive customers (66.7%) consume lactose-free products regularly, so it can be assumed that the level of knowledge of this disease, its treatment, and the importance of lactose-free dairy products among these persons is insufficient. This could be solved with education, advertisement, and other information opportunities.

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Gy. Kasza

Papers

Differences Between Fat-Related Characteristics of Sour Cream and Sour Cream Analogues

Possibilities of targeting in food chain safety risk communication

Use and abuse of dietary supplements for adolescents — Results of a survey among Hungarian recreational athletes

Consumers's willingness to pay for avoiding Salmonella infection

Analysis of the target group of lactose-free functional foods for product development