Changes in appearance during the spoilage process of fruits and vegetables: Implications for consumer use and disposal
People waste a lot of food, especially at the consumption stage in consumer households. Despite the urgency of this topic, little is known about how consumers use visual inspection to decide to throw away fruits and vegetables at different stages of ripening and spoilage. We presented 366 US consume...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2024-03-01
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| Series: | Cleaner and Responsible Consumption |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666784324000172 |
| _version_ | 1797248276212219904 |
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| author | Hendrik N.J. Schifferstein |
| author_facet | Hendrik N.J. Schifferstein |
| author_sort | Hendrik N.J. Schifferstein |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | People waste a lot of food, especially at the consumption stage in consumer households. Despite the urgency of this topic, little is known about how consumers use visual inspection to decide to throw away fruits and vegetables at different stages of ripening and spoilage. We presented 366 US consumers with images of a banana, mango, cucumber, and avocado in 5 stages of decay in an online study and we determined how signs of decay affected participants’ consumption, preparation and disposal behaviors. As expected, product attractiveness, freshness, healthiness, and nutritiousness decreased, while the degree of decay, overripeness, and disgust increased over time. The number of people willing to consume the product was linearly related to the perceived proportion of the product affected by decay, while the number of people wanting to cut off bad parts was highest when about 40% of the product was judged to be affected. As time went on, the banana was cooked and mashed more often, while the cucumber was peeled more often. As growing, ripening and decay differ considerably between agricultural products, it is important to take sensory and preparation differences into account when investigating consumption and disposal behaviors. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T18:35:14Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-694e4db9cbcc452fa78cae61479aa5c2 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2666-7843 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-24T20:12:01Z |
| publishDate | 2024-03-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Cleaner and Responsible Consumption |
| spelling | doaj.art-694e4db9cbcc452fa78cae61479aa5c22024-03-23T06:26:26ZengElsevierCleaner and Responsible Consumption2666-78432024-03-0112100184Changes in appearance during the spoilage process of fruits and vegetables: Implications for consumer use and disposalHendrik N.J. Schifferstein0Department of Human Centered Design, Delft University of Technology, Landbergstraat 15, 2628 CE, Delft, the NetherlandsPeople waste a lot of food, especially at the consumption stage in consumer households. Despite the urgency of this topic, little is known about how consumers use visual inspection to decide to throw away fruits and vegetables at different stages of ripening and spoilage. We presented 366 US consumers with images of a banana, mango, cucumber, and avocado in 5 stages of decay in an online study and we determined how signs of decay affected participants’ consumption, preparation and disposal behaviors. As expected, product attractiveness, freshness, healthiness, and nutritiousness decreased, while the degree of decay, overripeness, and disgust increased over time. The number of people willing to consume the product was linearly related to the perceived proportion of the product affected by decay, while the number of people wanting to cut off bad parts was highest when about 40% of the product was judged to be affected. As time went on, the banana was cooked and mashed more often, while the cucumber was peeled more often. As growing, ripening and decay differ considerably between agricultural products, it is important to take sensory and preparation differences into account when investigating consumption and disposal behaviors.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666784324000172Food safetyFood literacyFood wasteDecision makingDecay |
| spellingShingle | Hendrik N.J. Schifferstein Changes in appearance during the spoilage process of fruits and vegetables: Implications for consumer use and disposal Cleaner and Responsible Consumption Food safety Food literacy Food waste Decision making Decay |
| title | Changes in appearance during the spoilage process of fruits and vegetables: Implications for consumer use and disposal |
| title_full | Changes in appearance during the spoilage process of fruits and vegetables: Implications for consumer use and disposal |
| title_fullStr | Changes in appearance during the spoilage process of fruits and vegetables: Implications for consumer use and disposal |
| title_full_unstemmed | Changes in appearance during the spoilage process of fruits and vegetables: Implications for consumer use and disposal |
| title_short | Changes in appearance during the spoilage process of fruits and vegetables: Implications for consumer use and disposal |
| title_sort | changes in appearance during the spoilage process of fruits and vegetables implications for consumer use and disposal |
| topic | Food safety Food literacy Food waste Decision making Decay |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666784324000172 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT hendriknjschifferstein changesinappearanceduringthespoilageprocessoffruitsandvegetablesimplicationsforconsumeruseanddisposal |