Transparency of the meat chain in the light of food culture and history

Current patterns of meat consumption are considered to be unsustainable. Sustainable development may require that consumers choose to eat smaller quantities of meat as well as meat that is produced in a more sensible way. A policy tool directed at consumer behaviour is that of enhancing consumer-oriented transparency of the production chain. Transparency is expected to allow people to make more mindful consumption choices, in line with their personal values. As most dietary habits are deeply rooted in the past, an assessment of the effect of transparency on food choices requires a historical perspective to food culture. Such a perspective provides us with at least two trends of relevance to meat consumption: increased concern for animal welfare and an ongoing dissociation of meat from its animal origin. Combined, these two trends may interact to allow people to consume in ways that actually conflict with their personal values: their concern for animal welfare does not translate into corresponding food choices, as the product meat does not remind them of its animal origin. An experiment was designed to test the hypothesis that people sensitive to animal welfare will respond to increased salience of animal origin and of animal welfare, and that they will show this by either avoiding to buy meat or by favouring free range and organic meat. Results confirmed the expected effect. The effect was observed mainly among those with Universalistic values, which limits the ultimate prospects of transparency as a policy tool.     

Different Frames to Reduce Red Meat Intake: The Moderating Role of Self-Efficacy

ABSTRACT

Previous research has shown that messages aimed at reducing red meat intake often do not have the expected effect. In the present study, we tested whether prefactual (“If… then”) or factual messages focused on health or wellbeing concerns have different persuasive effects depending on the recipient’s level of eating self-efficacy. Young adult participants (N = 247) completed a questionnaire measuring their eating self-efficacy and current red meat consumption. They were then presented with a prefactual or factual version of a message describing the possible negative impact of excessive red meat consumption on either health or wellbeing. After reading the message participants reported their involvement with the message and intention to eat red meat in the future. Results showed that prefactual wellbeing messages and factual health messages trigger participants’ involvement and, in turn, reduce their intention to eat red meat more than the other message combinations. Eating self-efficacy moderates these effects, with factual health messages persuading people with high self-efficacy and prefactual wellbeing messages persuading also receivers with an average level of self-efficacy. Discussion focuses on which message frames can be more effective in promoting a reduction in red meat consumption in a wider population.     

Eating green. Consumers' willingness to adopt ecological food consumption behaviors

Food consumption is associated with various environmental impacts, and consumers’ food choices therefore represent important environmental decisions. In a large-scale survey, we examined consumers’ beliefs about ecological food consumption and their willingness to adopt such behaviors. Additionally, we investigated in more detail how different motives and food-related attitudes influenced consumers’ willingness to reduce meat consumption and to buy seasonal fruits and vegetables. We found consumers believed avoiding excessive packaging had the strongest impact on the environment, whereas they rated purchasing organic food and reducing meat consumption as least environmentally beneficial. Similarly, respondents appeared to be most unwilling to reduce meat consumption and purchase organic food. Taste and environmental motives influenced consumers’ willingness to eat seasonal fruits and vegetables, whereas preparedness to reduce meat consumption was influenced by health and ethical motives. Women and respondents who preferred natural foods were more willing to adopt ecological food consumption patterns.     

Food insecurity in people living with obesity: Improving sustainable and healthier food choices in the retail food environment—the FIO Food project

At both UK and global level, dietary consumption patterns need to change to address environmental, health and inequality challenges. Despite considerable policy interventions, the prevalence of overweight and obesity in the United Kingdom has continued to rise with obesity now a leading cause of mortality and morbidity. Obesity prevalence is greater among those on lower incomes and the current UK food system, including government policy, does not effectively address this. Current behavioural approaches, without the support of structural changes in the system, may even widen the inequalities gap. Hence, using behavioural insights from those living with obesity and food insecurity, the project will explore potential avenues that can be applied in the food system to promote healthier choices in the food retail environment. The National Food Strategy report recommends that the UK food system should ensure “safe, healthy, affordable food; regardless of where people live or how much they earn”. However, the association between food insecurity and the development of obesity is not well understood in relation to purchasing behaviours in the UK retail food environment, nor is the potential effectiveness of interventions that seek to prevent and reduce the impact of diet-induced health harms. The FIO Food (Food insecurity in people living with obesity – improving sustainable and healthier food choices in the retail food environment) project provides a novel and multi-disciplinary collaborative approach with co-development at the heart to address these challenges. Using four interlinked work packages, the FIO Food project will combine our knowledge of large-scale population data with an understanding of lived experiences of food shopping for people living with obesity and food insecurity, to develop solutions to support more sustainable and healthier food choices in the UK retail food environment.     

Impact of Health,Environmental, and Animal Welfare Messages Discouraging Red Meat Consumption: An Online Randomized Experiment

BackgroundReducing red meat consumption is a key strategy for curbing diet-related chronic diseases and mitigating environmental harms from livestock farming. Messaging interventions aiming to reduce red meat consumption have focused on communicating the animal welfare, health, or environmental harms of red meat. Despite the popularity of these 3 approaches, it remains unknown which is most effective, as limited studies have compared them side by side.ObjectiveOur aim was to evaluate responses to red-meat–reduction messages describing animal welfare, health, or environmental harms.DesignThis was an online randomized experiment.ParticipantsIn August 2021, a convenience sample of US adults was recruited via an online panel to complete a survey (n = 2,773 nonvegetarians and vegans were included in primary analyses).InterventionParticipants were randomly assigned to view 1 of the 4 following messages: control (neutral, non–red meat message), animal welfare, health, or environmental red-meat–reduction messages.Main outcome measuresAfter viewing their assigned message, participants ordered hypothetical meals from 2 restaurants (1 full service and 1 quick service) and rated message reactions, perceptions, and intentions.Statistical analyses performedLogistic and linear regressions were performed.ResultsCompared with the control message, exposure to the health and environmental red-meat–reduction messages reduced red meat selection from the full-service restaurant by 6.0 and 8.8 percentage points, respectively (P = .02 and P < .001, respectively), while the animal welfare message did not (reduction of 3.3 percentage points, P = .20). None of the red-meat–reduction messages affected red meat selection from the quick-service restaurant. All 3 red-meat–reduction messages elicited beneficial effects on key predictors of behavior change, including emotions and thinking about harms.ConclusionsRed-meat–reduction messages, especially those describing health or environmental harms, hold promise for reducing red meat selection in some types of restaurants. Additional interventions may be needed to discourage red meat selection across a wider variety of restaurants, for example, by making salient which menu items contain red meat.     

Which dietary patterns are more likely to be associated with aspects of eco-sustainable food behaviours in Italy?

Sustainable food consumption (SFC) policies need further investigation into eating habits to improve interventions to encourage shifting to new consumption patterns respectful of human rights, environment and health. Reversing the usual approach focussed on sustainable consumer, the present study investigates how different eating patterns relate to eco-sustainable food. A cluster analysis was carried out on consumption frequencies of food groups recorded in an Italian national survey on 3004 respondents, providing four eating habit segments, further investigated as for sustainable food attitude and behaviour. Openness to eco-sustainable food is found mostly in the more balanced diet segment, accounting for about one third of the adult Italian population. Inaccessibility, non-affordability, unhealthy diet and a lack of information still negatively condition eating habits to the detriment of more sustainable consumption. These findings could support SFC stakeholders in targeting policies and strategies based on diversified approaches to enhance awareness of SFC issues.     

Consumer citizenship: acting to minimise environmental health risks related to the food system

Public health practitioners interested in supporting consumers to make healthy, sustainable food choices need to understand consumer motivations to reduce food system risk. Increasingly food technologies that have enhanced access to food supply are being recognised as also impacting on the sustainability of the food system. This study explored the actions taken by Australian participants in response to their concerns about perceived food related threats to health and environment. Variance in willingness to act is analysed within the context of environmental and ecological citizenship, and a continuum describes the range of positions held. From the outset some participants self-identified as environmentally concerned and proactive, while others indicated a secondary interest in the environment. The catalyst for action for the majority was the priority of individual health and such self-interest can be a powerful motivator for change. Others related health to the environment and described efforts to minimise individual impact. Equally important for action to occur is being at a stage in life where other demands do not compete for the time and energy necessary to take citizenship actions. These results provide insight into the support that public health practitioners can offer to consumers who wish to make sustainable food choices.     

Food security through the lens of nutrition

The Foresight report has described an unprecedented confluence of pressures whereby a growing, and in some cases, increasingly prosperous global population, alongside increasing demand for limited resources and the pressing need to address environmental challenges, including climate change and changing weather patterns, means that food security is seriously and increasingly threatened. Much of the discussion has focussed on greenhouse gas emissions associated with food production and the contribution from meat production and dairying has been highlighted. These protein‐rich foods are features of Western‐style diets and as such make a substantial contribution to intakes of a wide range of essential nutrients. Therefore, it is important to understand the impact on overall dietary patterns and associated nutrient intakes if consumption levels fall, as well as the impact from a sustainability standpoint. From a nutritional perspective, the initial knee jerk reaction around simply eating less meat is already being replaced by a more sophisticated debate that is now considering whether a healthy diet, as currently framed by food‐based dietary guidelines, can also be a sustainable dietary pattern now and in the future. There are some important questions that need to be addressed in order for a clearer picture to emerge. For example, it is as yet unclear what dietary choices consumers would make if their consumption of these foods were to be reduced, what effect these choices would have on their health and on sustainability of the food supply, and which groups of the population or individuals within households will be most vulnerable, recognising that there are demographic changes already underway associated with an ageing population. This paper provides a viewpoint through the lens of nutrition and summarises some of the initiatives already underway in relation to food security.     

Measures of Food Choice Behavior Related to Intervention Messages in Worksite Health Promotion

Worksite nutrition educators and researchers need not only nutrient composition data but also information on employees’ food choices to create intervention messages that are food-focused and tailored to specific target audiences. This paper describes a method of calculating measures of food choice behavior related to intervention messages and reports relationships between workers’ food choices and demographic characteristics. This work was conducted as part of the Working Well Trial, a 5-year worksite cancer prevention randomized, controlled prospective field experiment funded by the National Cancer Institute. It was implemented in 114 worksites employing 37,291 workers who were engaged in a variety of businesses. In the fall of 1990, 20,801 respondents completed and returned a self-administered baseline survey. A modified Block 88-item food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) with portion sizes was used for the quantitative assessment both of nutrient intake and workers’ food choices. The worksite mean response rate was 71.6%. Responses to behavioral items regarding meat were used to measure meat preparation behaviors not captured on the FFQ. We found that higher education, greater age, and female gender were associated with food choices closest to the recommendations to increase fiber, fruits, and vegetables and to reduce fat. An exception to this pattern was the recommendation to increase the consumption of beans and lentils, which was associated with lower education, greater age, and male gender. The relationship of job status to the food choice variables was inconsistent across foods and study centers and there were differences between study centers in the magnitude of associations between food choices and demographic characteristics.     

EatWellNow: Formative Development of a Place-Based Behavioral “Nudge” Technology Intervention to Promote Healthier Food Purchases among Army Soldiers

Approximately 17% of military service members are obese. Research involving army soldiers suggests a lack of awareness of healthy foods on post. Innovative approaches are needed to change interactions with the military food environment. Two complementary technological methods to raise awareness are geofencing (deliver banner ads with website links) and Bluetooth beacons (real-time geotargeted messages to mobile phones that enter a designated space). There is little published literature regarding the feasibility of this approach to promote healthy behaviors in retail food environments. Thus, we conducted a formative feasibility study of a military post to understand the development, interest in, and implementation of EatWellNow, a multi-layered interactive food environment approach using contextual messaging to improve food purchasing decisions within the military food environment. We measured success based on outcomes of a formative evaluation, including process, resources, management, and scientific assessment. We also report data on interest in the approach from a Fort Bragg community health assessment survey (n = 3281). Most respondents agreed that they were interested in receiving push notifications on their phone about healthy options on post (64.5%) and that receiving these messages would help them eat healthier (68.3%). EatWellNow was successfully developed through cross-sector collaboration and was well received in this military environment, suggesting feasibility in this setting. Future work should examine the impact of EatWellNow on military service food purchases and dietary behaviors.     

Risks of meat: the relative impact of cognitive, affective and moral concerns

The purpose of the present research was, first, to examine the impact of particular perspectives (Study 1: cognitive and affective; Study 2: moral) on the perception and acceptance of risks associated with meat consumption, and intention to reduce meat consumption in the future. The first study showed that an affective focus generally had a stronger impact on risk perception and acceptance, and intention to reduce meat consumption, than a more cognitive focus. Moreover, moral considerations had a clear impact in all conditions. Results of a second study confirmed that a moral focus has powerful effects on all the dependent variables. The second purpose of the research was to examine the perseverance of the impact of cognitive, affective and moral perspectives. In both studies, a follow-up after three weeks showed increased perception of moral risks and a strong intention to reduce future meat consumption. Moreover, attitude towards meat consumption became less positive in the conditions with an affective and moral focus. There were also significant relations between intention to reduce meat consumption, actual reduction, and intention to adhere to this level in the future. Overall, risk acceptance was mediated by perceived health and moral risks, whereas intention about meat consumption was mediated by risk acceptance.     

Processing conditions, rice properties, health and environment

Rice is the staple food for nearly two-thirds of the world's population. Food components and environmental load of rice depends on the rice form that is resulted by different processing conditions. Brown rice (BR), germinated brown rice (GBR) and partially-milled rice (PMR) contains more health beneficial food components compared to the well milled rice (WMR). Although the arsenic concentration in cooked rice depends on the cooking methods, parboiled rice (PBR) seems to be relatively prone to arsenic contamination compared to that of untreated rice, if contaminated water is used for parboiling and cooking. A change in consumption patterns from PBR to untreated rice (non-parboiled), and WMR to PMR or BR may conserve about 43-54 million tons of rice and reduce the risk from arsenic contamination in the arsenic prone area. This study also reveals that a change in rice consumption patterns not only supply more food components but also reduces environmental loads. A switch in production and consumption patterns would improve food security where food grains are scarce, and provide more health beneficial food components, may prevent some diseases and ease the burden on the Earth. However, motivation and awareness of the environment and health, and even a nominal incentive may require for a method switching which may help in building a sustainable society.     

Individual determinants of fish consumption: application of the theory of planned behaviour

This study investigates individual determinants of fish consumption behaviour based on cross-sectional data collected in Belgium. Analyses show that determinants as hypothesised by the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) and personal characteristics influence fish consumption intention and frequency. Favourable attitude, high subjective norm and high perceived behavioural control have a positive impact on fish consumption decisions. Significant habit effects are detected when including habit as a separate regressor of behavioural intention and behaviour. Appreciation of the attribute taste emerges as the most important driver for eating fish, followed closely by health. Bones and price constitute the negative attitude factor, which, however, does not directly reduce behavioural intention. Individual determinants pertain to gender, age, children, income, education level and region. Fish consumption frequency in compliance with health recommendations is higher among women and increases with increasing age, while the presence of children in the household leads to lower fish consumption. The lowest income class has the lowest fish consumption frequency. Higher education results in a higher intention to eat fish but has no effect on the consumption frequency itself. The coastal region of West Flanders is the region with the highest consumption. Food involvement correlates positively with fish consumption intention and frequency, whereas no significant impact of food-health awareness is found.     

Factors influencing consumption of pork and poultry in the Irish market

Comparisons of Irish consumers' beliefs about pork and poultry in the framework of Fishbein and Ajzen's Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) showed that poultry is viewed as the tastier, healthier and less expensive of the two meats while pork is viewed as the safer meat. The influence of attitudes and important others on intention to consume these meats was explored and the findings support the basic structure of the TRA model. In this study, both attitudes towards poultry and pork consumption and the influence of important others influenced intention to consume pork and poultry, but attitude was of greater importance. For poultry, health, eating enjoyment, safety and price were most important determinants of attitude with environment and animal welfare less so. In the case of pork, health, eating enjoyment, safety and animal welfare were most important determinants of attitude with environment and price less so. Furthermore, doctor's advice influenced the subject norm for both poultry and pork, which in turn influenced intention to consume, while dietician's advice only influenced the subject norm for pork.     

Impact of communication on consumers' food choices

Consumers' food choices and dietary behaviour can be markedly affected by communication and information. Whether the provided information is processed by the receiver, and thus becomes likely to be effective, depends on numerous factors. The role of selected determinants such as uncertainty, knowledge, involvement, health-related motives and trust, as well as message content variables, are discussed in the present paper based on previous empirical studies. The different studies indicate that: uncertainty about meat quality and safety does not automatically result in more active information search; subjective knowledge about fish is a better predictor of fish consumption than objective knowledge; high subjective knowledge about functional foods as a result of a low trusted information source such as mass media advertising leads to a lower probability of adopting these foods in the diet. Also, evidence of the stronger impact of negative news as compared with messages promoting positive outcomes of food choices is discussed. Finally, three audience-segmentation studies based on consumers' involvement with fresh meat, individuals' health-related-motive orientations and their use of and trust in fish information sources are presented. A clear message from these studies is that communication and information provision strategies targeted to a specific audience's needs, interests or motives stand a higher likelihood of being attended to and processed by the receiving audience, and therefore also stand a higher chance of yielding their envisaged impact in terms of food choice and dietary behaviour.     

Benefits of habit‐based informational interventions: a randomised controlled trial of fruit and vegetable consumption

Objective : To assess the effectiveness of a habit‐based intervention delivered by e‐mail or sms in improving fruit and vegetable consumption among young adults. Methods : An eight‐week randomised controlled trial compared the effectiveness of three different types of message content (habit‐based messages; food‐group messages; general healthy eating messages) and two delivery methods (e‐mail versus sms) on habit strength and consumption of fruits and vegetables in 71 undergraduate participants. Results : A significant message content by time interaction indicated that the habit‐based intervention improved fruit consumption over the eight‐week period. Vegetable consumption significantly increased over the intervention period regardless of message content. Delivery method did not influence these results. Conclusion : Messages based on a habit framework can be utilised to improve fruit consumption in young adults. Furthermore, simply reminding young adults to be conscious of their food choices may be sufficient to improve their overall vegetable consumption.     

Leadership and the UK health service

This paper explores future leadership requirements for health services in the context of relevant leadership theory and the changing environment for health services in the UK. The output of leadership research is both prolific and confusing and its applicability to health services management uncertain especially in the context of constraints on the strategic managerial behaviour and choices of public service managers. The introduction of general management to the UK NHS in the 1980s, followed by an internal market for health care in 1990 should have provided the opportunity for managers to work differently and to create personal space for leadership. However, it is not known whether sustainable , new ways of leadership working have emerged although it is reasonable to hypothesis from studies elsewhere that a number of contextual and behavioural leadership models are likely to be found in the NHS. Although management researchers have explored networking and referred to the impact of the external environment of leadership, insufficient importance has been attached to-date to the impact of future trends in health services on the leadership of change in the health sector. The paper argues that in future health services leadership will require much more than traditional networking with other organizations and groups and will need to focus on developing and securing external agreement to an agenda for positive change turning the apparent constraints of the external environment, determined primarily by government policies,into opportunities. In other words, the demands of external or contextual leadership will increase forcing a stronger focus on having to achieve change through others.     

‘It's all about Ben10™’: children's play,health and sustainability decisions in the early years

In today's fast food, fast-paced consumer society, too few questions are asked about the influence of digital media on young children's health and sustainability choices, and indeed how such choices are expressed in children's play (and early childhood classrooms). By interviewing children and parents, and using such data to prompt teacher discussion, a team of interdisciplinary researchers have started to develop an understanding of the interconnectedness of these issues in the early childhood environment. Data reveal the strong relationship between children's digital media viewing and their associated clothing choices, their food selections and the sustainability consequences of such behaviour. We conclude that early childhood education must move beyond silo approaches to digital literacy, healthy eating and sustainability messages.     

A review of point-of-choice nutrition labelling schemes in the workplace, public eating places and universities

Background: Nutrition labelling schemes at the point-of-choice allow opportunity for behaviour change by modifying the environment. In the workplace they provide a particularly good opportunity to expose employees repeatedly to healthier food choices. The Heartbeat Award scheme (HBA) is an example of such a scheme and was launched in England in 1990 by the Health Education Authority. Method: Twenty point-of-choice labelling schemes are reviewed in the workplace, public eating places and universities. We outline the characteristics of effective programmes, and suggest how the HBA scheme could be developed to maximize its impact. Results: Nutrition labelling schemes may be most effective when they are adapted for the target audience and use simple messages, especially if the messages promote both healthiness and taste. Even though schemes may not have an immediate effect on food choice, they may act together with other factors to enhance customer self-efficacy, thereby increasing the likelihood of positive food choices being made. Conclusion: Most of the studies reviewed demonstrate some positive short-term benefits from schemes. We are unable to conclude that these result in long-term behaviour changes, because of a lack of follow-up studies.