“Green” food processing technologies: factors affecting consumers’ acceptance

Current Trends in Green Technologies in Food Production and Processing

“…Public understanding of food production and processing technologies, and their benefits and limitations will either be congruent with, or opposed to, that of scientific experts [27]. Consumers have not always lauded the intentions of the food industry due to disparities in the approaches used by the private sector.…”

“…Consumers have not always lauded the intentions of the food industry due to disparities in the approaches used by the private sector. Social pressures on companies in relation to environmental issues have required that companies conform in order to avoid the consequences of nonconformity (e.g., legal penalties, public protests, and loss of market share to competitors), whereas some have responded by making fundamental changes in their practices and technologies, others avoid change through the use of public relations offensives or other avoidance tactics [27] and references therein. This partly explains the cynicism between consumers and the private sector in regard to ''green claims.…”

“…Improving benefits such as nutritional value, taste, and shelf life enhances a product's acceptability [15], whereas perceived risks (e.g., presence of toxic by-products) negatively correlates with intention to purchase, intention to use, and overall acceptability [13,31,47]. In general, although environmental impact of food production and processing is not the first benefit sought after by consumers in regard to food technologies, it is among their expectations [27].…”