Sustainability has long since ceased to be associated solely with doing without. It has moved into the consciousness of the masses and has even developed into a lifestyle. And so the question arises as to whether (and if so, how) the sustainability of food and other products represents a relevant purchase criterion for consumers.
Sustainability is the order of the day. A large proportion of greenhouse gases come from animal products, especially meat production. The question is whether consumers are aware of this and whether they react by reducing or abandoning meat consumption ? Are organic labels known to, and do they constitute a potentially important evaluation criterion ? From these considerations, an important research question arises : What is the relevance of sustainability in the purchase of food (but also in other products that would need to pursue a sustainable resource strategy) and what criteria do consumers use to evaluate their sustainability ?
In our interviews and observations of 2954 individuals, there are individuals there is a broad mass (72 percent) whose this fact is aware and also important, but also a minority of almost every third person who either was not aware of this fact or is almost indifferent to it. However, we also found that sustainability is in the forefront of more and more individuals’ minds. There are no differences whatsoever between genders and age groups here – for men and women and young and old, this crucial issue is equally important.
When considering the relevance of individual aspects of food purchasing, sustainability plays a significant role : our four aspects studied (regionality, seasonality, sustainability, and organic products) directly follow freshness, high quality, and nutritional values. They are more important to consumers than simple and quick preparation, low price, or brand. Of the criteria used to identify sustainable food, packaging material and regionality in particular take on a very important part. More than 75 percent of all consumers pay attention to this.
But seasonality and organic products are also important to consumers. However, women and older people in particular pay special attention to regionality and seasonality of products. However, it is also evident that a large proportion of consumers find it difficult to find out whether and to what extent a food product (or even an industrially manufactured product) is harmful to the environment. That said, the fact is : Right now, a high degree of intrinsic motivation is needed to answer this complex question.
Consumers need easily formulated and retrievable information. This can increase the choice for sustainable food. In addition, increased availability of information can counteract the problem of habit : Consumers are encouraged to reconsider their purchases. The fact that consumers readily accept readily available information and use it for their own benefit is shown, for example, by the relevance of the packaging material. For example, it helps environmentally conscious consumers to decide to buy unpackaged fruit and vegetables instead of plastic packaging. The origin of fruit and vegetables is often printed directly with the price, so consumers also have easily available information and can opt for regional products. In contrast, only a few consumers make the effort to find out about the sustainability of a brand in advance. Increasing the transparency of the value creation process can strengthen consumers’ ability to act. This is possible, for example, through information that can be accessed via an app when scanning the barcode or through clear, consistent sustainability communication and its criteria.
The problem of information availability and comprehensibility is also evident when asking about knowledge of the six best-known organic labels. In addition to these, we have freely invented two other seals in order to have a better discrimination of the current level of knowledge of consumers. Result : A respectable third of the consumers thought they knew the two invented seals. Likewise, the assessment of the trustworthiness of organic seals is rated as difficult, which means that more concise information needs to be explained here by politicians and the media. This will enable consumers to better assess their impact and make an informed decision for or against an organic product.
The differences are particularly striking when it gets to meat consumption : Consumers are well aware of the impact on the environment. There is a significant correlation between the age groups. Younger consumers are more likely to choose lower-meat or meat substitute products. Many consumers are also prepared to do this. In contrast, the willingness to switch to insects is much lower. Such products first have to establish themselves in the Western world, but then they can represent an alternative. Meat can thus mutate into an indulgence item that is consumed less frequently and therefore in superior quality.
In terms of food waste reduction, consumers consider themselves to be very mindful. However, 75 kilograms of food waste per capita per year indicates otherwise. Although consumers are aware of their power to act, they also see politicians as having an obligation. The fact that consumers are prepared to change their behavior in the interests of environmental protection is demonstrated by the reduced use of plastic packaging. Obviously, consumers understand the term sustainability to mean above all the reduction of waste and the use of sustainable and recyclable materials. One in ten sees this in particular as the reduction or avoidance of plastic.
The success in reducing plastic packaging shows that consumers embrace opportunities to protect the environment when they are presented with them. This means that, first, the measures must show simple solution strategies to keep consumers away by being too complex and too much feared effort, but, second, they are not in a position to actively strive for such sustainable behavior. An important aspect would be, for example, to redefine the best-before date and to clearly communicate differences to the use-by date. A global campaign by politicians (at best by the European Commission) could, for example, make clear how long different foods are still edible after the best-before date when stored correctly and show simple aids for recognizing foods that are still edible (e.g., eye, smell and careful taste tests).
An important challenge would be to create greater acceptance of food that does not look its best. Here, standards would first have to be revised according to which fruits and vegetables are sorted out according to non-uniform size or shape. In the next step, it would then be consumers’ turn to develop acceptance also for those foods that are in optimal condition in terms of quality and taste but have visual flaws (this is difficult, however, due to the fact that individuals look for an aesthetic shape and this is cognitively almost indispensable).
Our results clearly show that aspects from the sustainability sector matter to a large proportion of consumers when buying food. There is also a high level of awareness of the environmental impact of different product groups and the knowledge that meat products have the greatest impact. Consumers show a high willingness for lower-meat diets, with younger consumers being particularly present here. This suggests a trend toward fewer meat products in the coming years and decades. It is also clear that particularly easily identifiable criteria should be used to choose sustainable foods. The packaging material, which is recognizable at first glance, is the most important factor, together with regionality, which is evident on the packaging. Since there are often alternative products in the assortment for both aspects, the willingness to implement them is very high.
However, it is also evident that consumers experience the assessment of the environmental impact of individual foods as difficult. This suggests that consumers are willing to adjust their behavior, but do not feel sufficiently informed to do so. Sustainability aspects must be more easily recognizable in order to satisfy consumers’ need for information and to strengthen their competence to act by means of simple action patterns. The respective government (or the EU in its entirety) can support this, for example with agreements to avoid plastic cutlery in the catering trade or the ban on the sale of plastic sacks by supermarkets. Further research can help here, specifically investigating the acceptance and implementation of such projects. This offers great potential to further strengthen the relevance of sustainability in food retailing and to make implementation simple and thus effective.