Nguyen Hoang Diem My, Pieter Rutsaert, Ellen J Van Loo and Wim Verbeke
Ghent University, Belgium
International Rice Research Institute, Philippines
Hue University, Vietnam
Posters & Accepted Abstracts: J Exp Food Chem
Food quality and safety have received growing attention in many developing countries including Vietnam due to several reasons including the overuse and misuse of pesticides in agriculture and the presence of harmful chemicals in food. In the context of these serious problems in the Vietnamese domestic market, it is vital to explore how consumers think and behave towards food certifications. Thus, this study examines consumer attitude towards food quality certifications in the selected urban areas in the South of Vietnam employing face-to-face consumer surveys with 500 respondents. Results showed that consumers� knowledge of food quality terms was relatively low. Less than half of the respondents indicated to know the meaning of sustainability, GAP and organic food. Consumers� familiarity with the food certifications (e.g. GAP, HACCP and organic) was also low. This study focuses on the differences in the consumer perceptions towards rice and vegetables. Regression results showed that consumer attitude towards quality foods was affected by different motivations such as perceived importance of environmental consequences, perceived fairness of prices for farmers, food certification familiarity, perceived importance of healthy eating (in the case of rice), and food safety concern (in the case of vegetables). The food safety aspect of certified vegetables should be emphasized during marketing activities of quality certifications. Furthermore, the awareness and knowledge of consumers towards food quality certifications as well as sustainable agricultural practices should be publicly enhanced.
Email: mynhdiem@gmail.com
Journal of Experimental Food Chemistry received 389 citations as per Google Scholar report
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