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- Consumer perceptions and attitudes of the circular economy and food by-productsPublication . Sousa, Pedro Manuel de; Moreira, Maria João; Moura, Ana Pinto de; Cunha, Luís MiguelAccording to FAO, one-third of all edible food produced for human consumption is wasted or otherwise lost from the food chain per year, or about 1.3 billion tonnes. In Europe, the amount of industrial food waste or loss varies between 19% and 39% of the total food loss in the food supply chains. As a result, the adoption of a circular economy policy has received special attention from the agrifood 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 aim of this research is twofold: i) to understand the way consumers perceived the circular economy and food products from the circular economy, and ii) to evaluate attitudes towards the circular economy. For this, a mixed methodology was applied free word association methodology was applied to evaluate consumers’ conceptualization of the circular economy and the 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 were grouped through clustering. Results showed that consumers understand the circular economy as related mainly to Sustainability, Economy, and Circularity dimensions. Participants had great difficulty identifying the by-products used as foods or as food ingredients. 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.
- 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.
- Conceptualização e perspetivas do consumidor face à economia circular na valorização de novos produtos/ingredientes em contexto alimentarPublication . Sousa, Pedro Manuel de; Moreira, Maria João; Moura, Ana Pinto de; Cunha, Luís MiguelAnualmente, as indústrias agroalimentares dos países industrializados produzem aproximadamente 1,3 mil milhões de toneladas de resíduos alimentares, provocando inúmeros problemas ambientais, os quais contribuem para as alterações climáticas do planeta. A adoção de uma política de economia circular tem recebido especial atenção por parte das indústrias agroalimentares, permitindo a criação e desenvolvimento de novos produtos alimentares constituídos por subprodutos que de outra forma seriam desperdiçados. O presente trabalho, de cariz exploratório, visa avaliar o modo como o consumidor conceptualiza o conhecimento dos consumidores relativamente ao conceito de Economia Circular, bem como identificar o reconhecimento por parte do consumidor da utilização de subprodutos provenientes da indústria alimentar para obtenção de novos produtos e/ou novos ingredientes alimentares. Para isso, foi aplicado um questionário a 140 participantes utilizando o método de associação livre de palavras. A análise estatística realizada permitiu aferir que a perceção dos consumidores sobre a política de economia circular já se encontra bastante consolidada, mas a informação sobre o conceito e a utilização de subprodutos provenientes da indústria alimentar é ainda bastante limitada. Uma maior promoção e divulgação pelas entidades competentes dirigida ao público em geral, poderá contribuir para uma maior integração, participação e aceitação destas duas potenciais soluções para um futuro mais sustentável.