Consumer Misuse of Country-of-Origin Label: Insights from the Italian Extra-Virgin Olive Oil Market

Abstract

Providing information to consumers through the label is a means for food companies to inform consumers about product’s attributes, including the country of origin (COO). In the EU, COO labeling has been made mandatory for several categories of food products, to enable consumers to make informed choices at the point of sale. In particular, Regulation (EU) No 29/2012 has introduced a mandatory country-of-origin labeling system for extra virgin olive oil (EVOO). In the present study, conducted in Italy, we test whether there is a price differential associated with the COO information for EVOO. To this end, we employ a hedonic price model and data about the purchase of EVOO products collected from 982 consumers at the supermarket checkout. Having interviewed these consumers, we also assess the share of EVOO consumers that correctly identify the country of origin of the product purchased. Our findings point out that, in Italy, the EVOO with domestic origin, indicated on the label, benefits of a premium price equal to +35% compared to the product labeled as blend of European EVOOs, while a discount of −10.8% is attached to EVOOs from a non-European origin. A significant share of consumers in our sample (19.04%) is, however, unable to correctly identify the origin of the EVOO purchased. This label misuse mostly occurs among consumers who report that they had purchased Italian EVOO, while they had actually purchased a blend of European EVOOs. Female and more highly educated consumers are less likely to misuse label information about the product’s origins.

Quality of veiled olive oil: Role of turbidity components

“…Filtration is one of the most used stabilization processes for EVOOs (Guerrini et al, 2015). Interest in unfiltered oils has increased during last few years (Bimbo et al, 2020).…”

Dairy Products with Certification Marks: The Role of Territoriality and Safety Perception on Intention to Buy

“…As highlighted above, these elements can contribute to endow products with special characteristics in the eyes of consumers, such as authenticity [16,17] and both economic and social sustainability [20,21]. In addition, regulations on controlled designations of origin reduce the information gap between producer and consumer [22]. All these elements increase the sense of protection associated with products being rooted in a specific territory.…”

“…Moreover, another key aspect determining the appeal of local products is their sustainability, that is, the use of production processes that are able to respect the environment and to provide forms of support and jobs for local communities [20,21]. Finally, another function of controlled indications of origin is to reduce the information asymmetry between producers and consumers, so that the latter can always be aware of fundamental aspects regarding the origin and the production of food [22]. For the reasons listed above, brands with certification marks are perceived by the consumer as natural, authentic, safe, and controlled.…”

Premium, popular and basic olive oils: mapping product segmentation and consumer profiles for different classes of olive oil

“…Consumers in new producing areas, such as California, focus their attention on product familiarity (Santosa et al , 2010) while Italian consumers are more concerned about geographical origin (Panzone et al , 2016). Regarding geographical origin and consequently the role of the country-origin effect on consumer choices, recent studies have emphasized how highly significant it is (Mtimet et al , 2011; Dekhili et al , 2011; Bimbo et al , 2020; Trentinaglia et al , 2021). The importance attached to the origin cues and consumer preference is not universal since it varies according to market characteristics and depends on the reputation and image of the producing region (Chamorro et al , 2020; Dekhili and d'Hauteville, 2009); therefore it can be considered as a very important product attribute which, can be implicitly, albeit partially, included in PDO and PGI signals.…”