Fruit and vegetable consumption – the influence of aspects associated with trust in food and safety and quality of food

Abstract

Objective: To profile adults who eat less than the recommended servings of fruit and vegetables per day. Design: Australia-wide population telephone survey on a random sample of the Australian population, with results analysed by univariate and multivariate models. Setting: Australia. Subjects: One thousand one hundred and eight interviews, respondents' (49?3 % males) mean age was 45?12 (SD 17?63) years. Results: Overall 54?8 % and 10?7 % were eating the recommended number of servings of fruit and vegetables. Variables included in the multivariate model indicating low fruit consumption included gender, age, employment, education and those who were less likely to consider the safety and quality of food as important. In regard to low vegetable consumption, people who were more likely to do the food shopping only 'some of the time' and have a high level of trust in groups of people such as immediate family, neighbours, doctors and different levels of government were included in the final model. They were also less likely to neither consider the safety and quality of food as important nor trust organisations/institutions such as the press, television and politicians. In the final model depicting both low fruit and low vegetable servings, sex, age and a low level of importance with regard to safety and quality of food were included. Conclusion: To increase fruit and vegetable consumption, research into a broad range of determinants associated with behaviours should be coupled with a deeper understanding of the process associated with changing behaviours. While levels of trust are related to behaviour change, knowledge and attitudes about aspects associated with safety and quality of food are also of importance.

Trust in the Australian food supply: Innocent until proven guilty

“…A qualitative methodology was adopted for the first component as the study was exploratory. The qualitative data informed the development of a national survey about trust in the food supply Taylor et al 2011) Data for this component of the study were collected through 44 semi-structured interviews with 47 participants who had primary responsibility for food purchasing as earlier research suggests that these people are more likely to consider the safety and Archived at Flinders University: dspace.flinders.edu.au quality of their food (Coveney, 2007). Three interviews were conducted with couples who are both responsible for food purchasing.…”

Masking Vegetable Bitterness to Improve Palatability Depends on Vegetable Type and Taste Phenotype

“…Vegetables provide diverse taste and textural and olfactory sensations, which join other factors (e.g., cost, availability/accessibility, safety, and quality) to determine whether or not vegetables are liked and consumed (Coulthard and Blissett 2009; Cox et al 2012; Dammann and Smith 2009; Powell et al 2009; Taylor et al 2012). Strong bitterness deters vegetable acceptability, as it suppresses endogenous sweetness in vegetables (Dinehart et al 2006) and may enhance disliked vegetable aromas (Duffy et al 2007).…”

An Investigation of Fruits and Vegetables Intake Among Female Adolescents of the City of Isfahan

“…As per the findings of these studies, aging individuals, females, individuals with higher income, and physically active individuals with normal Body Mass Index (BMI) tend to consume much more fruits/vegetables compared to other groups (12,13). According to the study findings of Jones, household income was not significantly related to fruits/vegetables consumption among children (14). Although there are numerous factors affecting the amount of fruits/vegetables consumed by adolescents, the majority of studies tried to explore household's life style to find its relation with fruits/vegetables consumption (15).…”