Consumers’ Perception Of Sustainability In Food Chains: Perspectives For Future Marketing

This study investigates consumers’ perception of sustainability and food along three food chains(orange juice, salmon, and beef and dairies) from production to the end of life with the goal to achieve a better understanding of consumers’ motivation to purchase sustainable food and to improve the marketing through labelling and other ways of communication across the European Market. The topic was researched in six extended focus groups, two in each of the three countries: Spain, Romania and Denmark. All in all 62 consumers in the age from 20 to 60 years participated. They were screened and were expected to have neutral or positive attitudes towards sustainability. The results show that the consumers share many perceptions and concerns across countries though also country specific differences were found. Consumers lack information and knowledge regarding sustainability and express the need for information in the shopping situation in order to compare and choose more sustainable food seen from an individual perspective as it is not the case that consumers share a common understanding of what is most important regarding sustainability and there is a trade off with other quality characteristics of food as well.