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- Consumer preferences for Brazil nuts using conjoint analysis: exploring study of the importance of place of origin, production method, nutritional benefit and food safetyPublication . Cunha, Luís Miguel; Moura, Ana Pinto de; Lima, Rui Costa; Souza, M. P.; Souza-Filho, T. A.; Silvia, Tania Nunes da; Pedrozo, Eugenio A.The main objective of this research was to obtain insights about the impact of presenting Brazil nuts characteristics on the packaging, related with the place of origin – Amazon -, the production method – Organic-, the nutritional benefit – high levels of selenium - and food safety – absence of aflatoxins - on the valorisation of Brazil nuts by European consumers.
- Valorisation of menu labelling at fast food restaurants: exploring consumer perceptionsPublication . Cunha, Luís Miguel; Moura, Ana Pinto de; Lima, Rui Costa; Frias, AnaThe present study aimed to investigate Portuguese consumers’ interest for the provision of nutrition information at fast food restaurants and reactions to alternative presentations of this information. Four focus groups, with 5 to 8 consumers, were conducted in which participants were asked to look at three mock fast food restaurant menus that varied with respect to whether calorie information was provided and whether small portions and salads were available. Participants also discussed about fast food perceptions and attitudes, and fast food meal criteria decisions as well as the influence of nutrition information available at fast food restaurants on consumer meal decisions. Generally, participants were not interested on nutrition information when they eat at fast food restaurants, because eating at fast food restaurants continues to be mainly associated with taste, pleasure and convenience. Except for women with lower education, some participants were very critical regarding healthy menu identification, putting into question the regular menus without nutrition information. Some participants did not think they would do the calculations required to use the information on number of calories in each serving in order to report their estimation of daily energy requirements. Men, compared to women, were more aware of the possible ways in which fast food restaurants could provide point of purchase nutrition information.
- Consumer-led adaptation of the EsSense Profile® for herbal infusionsPublication . Rocha, Célia; Moura, Ana Pinto de; Pereira, Diana; Lima, Rui Costa; Cunha, Luís MiguelThis work aimed to adapt the EsSense Profile® emotions list to the discrimination of herbal infusions, aiming to evaluate the effect of harvesting conditions on the emotional profile. A panel of 100 consumers evaluated eight organic infusions: lemon verbena, peppermint, lemon thyme, lemongrass, chamomile, lemon balm, globe amaranth and tutsan, using a check-all-that-apply (CATA) ballot with the original EsSense Profile®. A set of criteria was applied to get a discriminant list. First, the terms with low discriminant power and with a frequency mention below 35% were removed. Two focus groups were also performed to evaluate the applicability of the questionnaire. The content analysis of focus groups suggests the removal of the terms good and pleasant, recognized as sensory attributes. Six additional terms were removed, considered to be too similar to other existing emotion terms. Changes in the questionnaire, resulting in a list of 24 emotion terms for the evaluation of selected herbal infusions, were able to discriminate beyond overall liking. When comparing finer differences between plants harvested under different conditions, differences were identified for lemon verbena infusions, yielding the mechanical cut of plant tips as the one leading to a more appealing evoked emotions profile.
- Cross-cultural perspectives on the consumer perception of Port wine and its impact on promotionPublication . Cunha, Luís Miguel; Ho, Irene; Alves, José; Rocha, Célia; Rocha, Daniel; Braga, Pedro; Lima, Rui Costa; Moura, Ana Pinto de
- Consumer perception of the circular economy concept applied to the food domain: an exploratory approachPublication . Sousa, Pedro Manuel de; Moreira, Maria João; Moura, Ana Pinto de; Lima, Rui Costa; Cunha, Luís MiguelEvery year, agri-food industries in industrialised countries produce approximately 1.3 billion tonnes of food loss and waste. The adoption of a circular economy policy has received special attention by the agri-food industries, allowing for the creation and development of new food products made of by-products that would otherwise be wasted or used for secondary applications. The present work, of an exploratory nature, aims to assess how consumers conceptualise the circular economy in order to identify consumer recognition of the use of by-products from the food industry to upcycle food products and to evaluate attitudes towards the circular economy. To this end, a mixedmethodology was applied to 340 participants. The first part was qualitative and used free word association to evaluate consumers’ conceptualisation of the circular economy and use of by-products as foods. Data were analysed by grouping the responses into exclusive and exhaustive categories and a correspondence analysis was also performed to originate perceptual maps. Additionally, a questionnaire was designed to evaluate major concepts and attitudes correlated with the circular economy. Data were reduced by principal component analysis (PCA) and participants grouped through clustering. Results showed that consumers understand circular economy as related mainly into Sustainability, Economy, and Circularity dimensions. Participants had great difficulty identifying the by-products used as foods or as food ingredients. From the quantitative data, four groups were identified based on the associations to the six principal components originated by the PCA. However, the results highlighted a very low association with all clusters of the Food Valorisation dimension within the concept of the circular economy, and also a lack of a clear understanding of consumers’ attitudes towards food products from the circular economy. Greater promotion and dissemination by the competent entities aimed at the general public may contribute towards greater integration, participation and acceptance of the circular economy concept for the upscaling of food by-products.
- A comparative evaluation of women's perceptions and importance of sustainability in fish consumption: an exploratory study among light consumers with different education levelsPublication . Moura, Ana Pinto de; Cunha, Luís Miguel; Cunha, M. Castro; Lima, Rui CostaPurpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore women’s perceptions about the benefits and risks of fish consumption, while exploring differences on their views about wild and farmed fish, considering light fish consumers. Design/methodology/approach – The methodology adopted is exploratory, using focus group technique, segregating women by education level (higher education versus lower education). A focus group guide was designed, taking into account the following dimensions: attitudes towards fish consumption and perceptions towards farmed fish relative to wild fish, also considering risk perceptions related to farmed versus wild fish. Findings – This study has shown that fish consumers enjoy the taste of fish and they are strongly convinced that eating fish is healthy. The main reason for their low fish consumption is related to perceive lacking of convenience.Women with higher education levels expressed additional knowledge considering different aquaculture systems and women with lower education levels were convinced that both wild and farmed fish offer benefits and present disadvantages. Originality/value – The paper shows that attitudes of light fish users are partially similar to heavy fish users considering farmed fish production, with the search for convenience being driven by either perceived lack of time or perceived lack of cookery skills to prepare fish-based meals.