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Many studies have shown that consumers are very sceptical towards genetically modified foods. They call them 'Frankenstein foods' and are not convinced when experts and the food industry claim that there is no difference between genetically modified foods and food products they normally buy. However, a new study carried out by MAPP in collaboration with researchers in Norway, Sweden and Finland indicates that consumers' scepticism is reduced when they taste genetically modified foods and experience that the products are more tasty and more healthy than similar conventional products. In connection with the study we asked 745 respondents from Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland to taste eight different cheeses. Three weeks later we sought out the same respondents asking them to taste another two cheeses. The respondents were indifferent to cheese 1 at the first tasting, whereas they thought cheese 2 was the best of them all. The respondents, of course, didn't know that the two cheeses were among the ones they had tasted the first time. Before the second tasting, 2/3 of the respondents were told that the cheese they liked the best was genetically modified. Half of the respondents who believed they tasted genetically modified cheeses, i.e. about 1/3 of all respondents, were also told that the cheese was low in fat as a result of genetic engineering. Having tasted the cheeses, the respondents were given descriptions of genetically modified cheese. The descriptions varied with regard to fat content, fatty acids content, price and added calcium and zinc. Moreover, the product descriptions differed in relation to whether genetically modified rennet had been used or not. In all four countries consumers attached most importance to the type of rennet. Also price was considered important whereas fat content and additives meant less. The most interesting result of the study was that consumers believing they had tasted genetically modified cheese were significantly less negative towards the use of genetically modified rennet than consumers who weren't given any information. Consumers who were led to believe the genetically modified rennet resulted in lower fat content were the ones least negative. All in all there are many indications that consumer would be less negative towards genetic engineering if they had a chance to experience that genetically modified foods taste a lot better than the products they usually prefer.

Executive summary The purpose of this working paper is to study whether current market and technological developments in the vegetable oil industry can be used as the outset for a price and/or quality based segmentation of the major industrial markets for this product. More specifically we want to identify segments with preferences for the qualities of Danish rape seed oil. The background for the study presented in this paper is the research project Rape seed oil for human consumption, which has its offspring in the nutritional qualities of Danish rape seed oil and the technological possibilities of a new gentle processing method. The project is sponsored by the Danish government, and involves a number of research institutions and private com The Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University of Denmark, The Technical University of Denmark, the Biotechnological Institute, DLF-Trifolium, Scanola A/S, and the MAPP Centre. The majority of theoretically-founded segmentation studies in industrial buying behaviour has dealt with large investments or technologically complex products, whereas research in commodities is almost non-existent. Based on the results of a preliminary study, this paper argues that the application of concepts from ind buying behaviour to the study of commodity buying, such as the procurement of vegetable oil, is an appropriate outset, when trying to segment the market for such commodities. The article begins with a brief discussion of why food commodity markets should be segmented, then follows current developments in the demand and technology conditions on the market for vegetable oil. Later we discuss how concepts from industrial buying behaviour can add to the understanding of commodity buying and segmentati Following this a conjoint model of vegetable oil procurement in the vegetable fats and mayonnaise industry in Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Switzerland and the United Kingdom is developed and implemented. Finally, the results and the implications of t study are discussed. The most important finding from the study is that the price criterion is always of major importance when buying vegetable oil in the vegetable fats and mayonnaise industry, but that it is possible to identify segments of companies with different preferences as regards the characteristics of vegetable oils and supplier services.

PurposeHealthy‐eating socialization is often described as a bi‐directional process, but there are only few studies on children and parent's roles in the process. This paper aims to investigate children and parents' accounts of awareness and involvement in healthy eating and how they relate it to their roles in healthy‐eating socialization.Design/methodology/approachSemi‐structured interviews were conducted with 38 families three months after a healthy‐eating intervention involving dietary advice and SMS feedback. The interviews were analysed by means of qualitative content analysis.FindingsChildren and parents identified several causes of awareness and involvement in healthy eating: new or re‐activated health knowledge, visualization of amounts, self‐regulation and planning. Children adopted two strategies in terms of family socialization: a direct strategy placing demands on parents or a cooperative strategy helping the parents. Parents initiated dialogues with family members about healthy eating and felt responsible as role models often honouring the children's demands and help.Research limitations/implicationsFindings provide a concrete empirical account of the socialization process and confirm that parents still have the superior hand, when it comes to healthy eating, but with children as active players. The authors suggest future studies to explore the development of influence and awareness of healthy eating among children and the extent to which children wish to engage in healthy‐eating socialization.Originality/valueThe study supplements previous research by including children's immediate family as a unit of analysis. By taking an intra‐familiar systemic approach to studying family socialization, future studies can take into account the family support (or lack hereof), when designing interventions and evaluating the outcomes.

Purpose
The increased acknowledgement of the problems associated with food waste has triggered a number of social and commercial initiatives for the re-distribution of suboptimal foods (SOFs). This paper aims to explore a variety of such initiatives and discuss their prospects, considering the commercial contingencies of the food supply system.


Design/methodology/approach
The exploration is based on a multi-country study of cases representing three initiatives related to the reduction of waste from SOFs, i.e. social supermarkets (SSMs), food banks and expiration date-based pricing practices. The collected data comprise expert interviews, store-check observations and secondary material; the data are analyzed from a marketing practice perspective.


Findings
The analyses indicate that the distribution and re-distribution of SOFs are moving toward normalization, that the diffusion of expiration date-based pricing through all food retailing formats is likely to continue, that food banks – despite reports of dwindling supplies of SOFs – are likely to increase their expansion and that SSMs face a variety of challenges, e.g. as regards their supply of SOFs and their customers' preferences for stable assortments.


Originality/value
By synthesizing data from various European implementations of re-distribution practices, this article contributes to the understanding of the viability of such practices. Developing this understanding should benefit social and commercial entrepreneurs, as well as policymakers, when designing and implementing initiatives for the reduction of waste from SOFs.

PurposeSnacking has been characterized as normatively unrestricted and identified as one of the main causes of adolescent obesity. The purpose of this paper is not to question the relation between obesity and snacking, but to ask to which extent adolescent snacking is socially unrestricted and to explore adolescent perceptions of the potential conventions and dilemmas involved in snacking.Design/methodology/approachReferring to previous research in food choice dilemmas and conventions, the paper starts out by discussing potential implications for adolescent snacking in different social contexts. Following this, the design, implementation and results of three focus groups, aiming at an exploration of adolescent snacking perceptions is described.FindingsBy identifying two distinct forms of adolescent snacking, i.e. "in‐between meals" and "fun snacks", the results of the focus groups falsify the perception of snacking as socially unrestricted and offer some interesting insights into the conventions, personal dilemmas and intergenerational conflicts which characterize adolescent snacking.Social implicationsThe classification of snacking as unrestricted of social norms is both unwarranted and counterproductive to the understanding – and subsequently the mitigation – of the relation between snacking and obesity.Originality/valueApart from falsifying the classification of snacking as unrestricted of social norms, the study contributes by devising a focus group design for elicitation of social norms and dilemmas. Recognizing that the study is just a first step towards a comprehensive understanding of adolescent snacking and that facilitation of healthier snacking behaviors requires such an understanding, recommendations for further research are given.

1. Functional foods is a relatively new concept covering food products enriched with various kinds of (natural) substances (eg vitamins, minerals or probiotic cultures) or modified so as to provide consumers with an additional physiological benefit presumed to prevent disease or promote health, without them having to change their eating habits fundamentally. 2. Health is one of the most important choice criteria, when consumers purchase food products. The fact that most health consequences of food are long term and therefore inaccessible at the time of purchase, the evaluation has to be based on nutritional information, eg health claims and other more accessible food qualities, eg taste, appearance, and processing method (when disclosed) which consumers may associate with health in one way or another. Consumers' acceptance of functional foods therefore depends on the health information available as well as on their associations between wholesomeness and other qualities of functional foods. 3. Experience with functional foods introduced so far has disclosed national differences when it comes to consumer acceptance. One explanation may be that legislation on health claims varies across countries; another explanation may be differences in cultural values, which possibly lead to different associations between wholesomeness and other quality aspects, such as taste, convenience and method of processing. 4. Using conjoint analysis and survey questions (n=1500), the aim of the study presented in this paper is to investigate whether there are differences in the acceptance of functional foods in Denmark, Finland and the United States, and to which extent they are related to differences in consumers' nutritional knowledge, health associations and cultural values. The general results of the study indicate that Finnish consumers accept functional foods more readily than do American and Danish consumers. In all three countries, however, the results also indicate that consumers are more positive towards enrichments with well-known nutritional effects and that the use of health claims, which are restricted by law in all three countries, has a potential, positive effect on the acceptance of functional foods.

PurposeThis article aims to examine young consumers' perceptions of healthy eating, contexts where healthy or unhealthy eating are practiced, and their evaluation of regulatory measures that discourage the consumption of unhealthy foods in two different markets.Design/methodology/approachA convenience sampled survey was conducted of 386 Danish and Chinese adolescents using a structured questionnaire.FindingsResults showed that perceptions of healthy eating were generally based on concepts such as balance and moderation. Unhealthy eating was most frequently practiced at parties and in festive periods. Hong Kong respondents were more likely to associate eating habits with healthy eating than Danish respondents. Danish respondents were more likely to practice healthy eating at schools than Hong Kong respondents. Making tanks of cold water freely available everywhere was perceived to be most effective in discouraging the consumption of soft drink. There were age, gender and market differences in attitudes toward selected regulatory measures that discourage the consumption of soft drinks.Research implicationsHealth educators and public health campaign designers should design health communication messages that target different perceptions of unhealthy eating, as well as different unhealthy eating contexts. Policy makers should be aware of the difference in local environmental conditions when designing regulations to encourage healthy eating.Originality/valueThe study is an innovative attempt to examine adolescents' perception of healthy eating and attitudes toward food regulatory measures in more than one consumer market.

Executive summary 1. Product attributes are the basic elements in most theories of consumer choice and motivation, and the instruments used in analysing these issues therefore generally focus on product attributes as the pivotal point of investigation. Thus, the identification of the product attributes, which are important to consumers, is the critical first step in the majority of consumer behavior studies. 2. A number of techniques, ranging from the complicated elicitation of idiosyncratic attributes, to simpler techniques, as picking from a pre-specified list of attributes, has been developed to identify important product attributes. The study of potential strengths and weaknesses of these techniques has received only little attent however. 3. In consumer behaviour theory, products are described as a bundle of attributes; and the influence of a particular attribute on consumer choice is assumed to be determined by this attribute's importance to the consumer and its ability to distinguish between product alternatives. The importance is believed to be positively related to the abstraction level and the cognitive availability of the attribute, whereas the differentiation ability is believed to be related negatively to the abstraction level and the number of attributes involved in the choice task. 4. The purpose of the study presented in this paper is to: (a) compare different elicitation techniques on a number of different criteria, such as: importance to consumers, ability to discriminate between brands, predictive ability, time use, and number of attributes elicited; and to (b) test the nomological validity of the basic assumptions regarding attributes and consumer choices for a low involvement product (veg oil). 5. The study presented is part of the project Rape seed oil for human consumption. Although modern Danish rape seed oil has nutritional qualities which are comparable to the best vegetable oils on the market, and in spite of the fact that rape see oil covers as much as one third of the Danish demand for vegetable oil, it still leads an anonymous life in the mind of the Danish food consumer.

- ; In the past decade, food waste has received increased attention on both academic and societal levels. As a cause of negative economic, environmental and social effects, food waste is considered to be one of the sustainability issues that needs to be addressed. In developed countries, consumers are one of the biggest sources of food waste. To successfully reduce consumer-related food waste, it is necessary to have a clear understanding of the factors influencing food waste-related consumer perceptions and behaviors. The present paper presents the results of a literature review and expert interviews on factors causing consumer-related food waste in households and supply chains. Results show that consumers' motivation to avoid food waste, their management skills of food provisioning and food handling and their trade-offs between priorities have an extensive influence on their food waste behaviors. We identify actions that governments, societal stakeholders and retailers can undertake to reduce consumer-related food waste, highlighting that synergistic actions between all parties are most promising. Further research should focus on exploring specific food waste contexts and interactions more in-depth. Experiments and interventions in particular can contribute to a shift from analysis to solutions.