Food skepticism in front of the food industry
New Dilemma for the consumer: the aversion to overconsumum and skepticism about quality, originating a form of food fear. To understand this phenomenon, its origin and how food production trends should be oriented from it based on the study of a developed country (Netherlands) and one on development (India) (India) will be addressed.
For a long time, the global food paradigm was to avoid malnutrition;That is, the consumption of food was to supply certain minimum needs, to avoid deficits due to deficits (Contreras Hernández, 2005). Currently, that problem persists in many nations, but a great divergence has emerged because in other latitudes there is an abundant panel of food alternatives, emerging a new challenge: a malnutrition by oversupply and poor quality (Koning, and others, 2008). To analyze this duality, the situation that a country welcomed by each end will be described.
Food skepticism in the Netherlands, a developed nation, is a consequence of the boom of metabolic diseases (obesity, diabetes), the consumer questions how well formulated their diets are, always looking for more vitamins and minerals (among other "kind" compounds ") over fats and carbohydrates;Similarly, the safety of preservatives, preservatives and other elements that are assumed are used during food production (pesticides, hormones, antibiotics, etc.) (Contreras Hernández, 2005) (Buisman & Jonkman, 2019).
In the case of India, a country in the process of development and cataloged as a latent long -term world power, its food culture is marked by the inequality that prevails in the nation and, therefore, the spectrum of consumers is divided by an skepticismSimilar to the Netherlands (excess aversion) and a different reference if the available food is capable of guaranteeing the minimum quality, both nutritionally and sanitary (aversion to scarcity) (Banik, 2016).
Within that context, so that there is a conciliation point between industry and consumer, food production must be effective in the provision of food that meets the requirements, without losses or excesses. For both nations, a first obstacle to this objective is the available offer. In a part of India, due to inequality, the poor sector of the population does not have access to an offer of foods that have had behind health processes or standards in terms of composition (Banik, 2016). In the Netherlands and in the strata with purchasing capacity in India, the opposite occurs: many consumers avoid the abundance of the supermarket, for being an industrialized food warehouse, supposedly full of chemicals and adulterants (Zahaf & Ferjani, 2016).
For consumers of industrialized products, an element that has gained relevance in recent times are the labels of the products as they guide the choice depending on the content and processes after the food. From this, a new dimension of skepticism comes into play: in the Netherlands, it was evidenced that an excess of certificates or kind attributes in a product can generate distrust in the consumer for not having a guarantee of what is written on the label (Fenko, Kersten, & Bialkova, 2016). In India, the pattern of analysis of the packaging by buyers is less demanding, but the choice of products is partially oriented by the nutritional composition and quality certificates. (Vemula, Gavaravarapu, Vardhana Rao Mendu, Mathur, & Avula, 2013)
This distrust can be counteracted based on the fact that buyers believe in neutral labels, conferred by an external entity and do not give credit to producer’s own statements (Fenko, Kersten, & Bialkova, 2016). It is clear then that the way to use the labels objectively is that quality certifications are granted by external regulations (Eden, Bear, & Walker, 2008).
Beyond the labels and their degree of reliability, the type of production that really has a potential impact for the three types of consumers studied (poor stratum of India, stratum with purchasing capacity of India and average stretch of the Netherlands) is theof organic food, for its ability to generate harmless foods and in a framework of sustainability, seeking support for small producers within the framework of a fair and profitable economy.
In both India and in the Netherlands, the statistical analysis of information collected evidence that individual well -being (food security search) is a stronger motivation to consume organic products than environmental consciousness (sustainability) (Yadav, 2016) (Ozguven,2012). From a moral point of view, this emphasizes the need to seek strategies that demonstrate the direct link between environmental care, social equality and individual well -being.
It is clear that the contemporary consumer seeks foods that guarantee nutritional quality and safety, in response to food skepticism, which has a dynamic dependent on the socio-economic context. In developed nations, such as the Netherlands, this search is erected as opposed to industrialization and overbundance;This pattern is replicated in the economically stable classes of India, a developing country, but also groups a sector whose distrust is oriented towards nutritional shortage in the limited consumption options.
The elucidation of information on production processes, the standardization of labels, coexistence with organic production and the development of sustainability are the edges of a beneficial panorama for all parties.
Leave feedback