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Advisor(s)
Abstract(s)
Healthy food choices are crucial for a healthy lifestyle. However, food choices are complex
and affected by various factors. Understanding the determinant factors affecting food choices could
aid policy-makers in designing better strategies to promote healthy food choices in the general public.
This study aims to evaluate the food choice motivations and to segment consumer groups, according
to their food choice motivations, in a sample of 531 Italian consumers (collected by convenience
sampling), through offline and online survey platforms. K-means cluster analysis was applied to
identify consumer groups using six food choice motivation categories (health, emotional, economic
and availability, social and cultural, environmental and political, and marketing and commercial).
The results suggest that the strongest determinants for the food choices of Italian consumers are
Environmental factors and Health. Two consumer profiles were identified through the segmentation
analysis: Emotional eating and Health-driven consumers. The respondents were found to have
a good awareness of what comprises a healthy diet. There is a potential market for healthy and
sustainable food products, especially products with minimal or environmentally friendly packages.
Food labels and information strategies could be promoted as tools to assist consumers to make
healthy food choices.
Description
Keywords
Food choices Eating determinants Healthy diet Emotions
Citation
Wongprawmas R, Mora C, Pellegrini N, Guiné RPF, Carini E, Sogari G, Vittadini E (2021) Food Choice Determinants and Perceptions of a Healthy Diet among Italian Consumers. Foods, 10(2), 318:1-23.