Consumer interest towards tropical fruit: factors affecting avocado fruit consumption in Italy

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to identify the main factors affecting the consumption of avocado fruit among Italian consumers. In order to respond to the aim of the study, an empirical survey was conducted through the submission of an online questionnaire to 327 consumers. An ordered logit econometric model was adopted to examine the relationship among some explanatory variables and the frequency of consumption of avocado fruit. The findings of this study show that the consumption of avocado fruit is affected by different factors, including fruit consumption habit, neophilia attitudes, and various intrinsic and extrinsic quality attributes (credence attributes in particular). The study deals with a little explored topic; therefore, the findings contribute to fill the gap in the existent literature, inasmuch as they enrich the discussion on consumers' preference for avocado fruit. However, further comparative research is clearly needed, as well as a larger research sample, to overcome limits to the external validity of the results and to investigate the analytical effort proposed in this article.

Chemical Profile and Biological Activity of Cherimoya (Annona cherimola Mill.) and Atemoya (Annona atemoya) Leaves

“…Today, with a total cultivated area of around 3.000 ha, Spain is the world's largest producer [18]. Due to the increase of marketable interest for its fruit, the cultivation of this plant was extended to different areas, including other Mediterranean regions, such as Sicily [19]. Moreover, in order to develop tastier fruit and a better adaptation to specific climatic conditions, new cultivars were introduced and the hybrid of A. cherimola and A. squamosa started to be produced and marketed with the name of Atemoya [20].…”

Quality Evaluation of the Ready-to-Eat Avocado cv. Hass

“…Avocado ( Persea americana Mill ) belongs to the Lauraceae family and represents one of the four most important tropical fruits with global production and trade in expansion across Europe. The increase in consumption is related to different factors (the ready availability of the product through various sales channels and its versatility of use and consumption as well as a taste appreciable for the different products) [ 1 ]. In particular, its consumption is independent of that of traditional fruits but it is strongly correlated to the food neophilia trend.…”

Comparative study of leaf antioxidant activity as a possible mechanism for frost tolerance in ‘Hass’ and ‘Ettinger’ avocado cultivars

“…is a commercially important, evergreen fruit tree grown in tropical and sub-tropical climates (Alcaraz et al ., 2013). Thanks to its high-nutritional value and health-benefitting properties, the avocado is enjoying rising demand worldwide (Migliore et al ., 2017). However, despite its growing popularity, avocado suffers from the major problem of susceptibility to frost (Ayala Silva and Ledesma, 2014); indeed, frost damage – defined as damage to plant tissue caused by an environmental effect in which the temperature drops below the freezing point of water – is one of the major factors in impairing avocado yields (Perry, 1998).…”