A retail expert at the University of Stirling has helped develop ways of classifying the ‘burgeoning’ movement of ‘clean food’ consumerism.
The trend – led by consumers’ demand for foods that are natural and additive-free, and to know where their food comes from – is estimated to reach $250 billion in value in 2025. However, the university said there is a lack of clear understanding among the public and the food industry about what clean food is.
Retail and consumer behaviour experts at the University of Stirling and Ariel University in Israel have classified clean consumerism for the first time, using an 18-item scale and five dimensions: authenticity, transparency, familiarity, ease of use, and healthiness.
The institutes explained that the Clean Food Consumerism (CFC) scale provides manufacturers, retailers, policymakers and researchers with a comprehensive definition and an important reference point when developing new products and guidelines for packaging information.
Surveys with almost 1,000 people were conducted to determine consumer preferences and motivations towards clean food. The survey findings were combined with existing research literature on clean food consumerism, to come up with prevailing themes.
Among the UK consumers surveyed, health benefits, ease of use, and production process transparency were considered important when shopping for clean food. The survey also found that price had a strong negative impact on whether UK consumers would adopt clean eating.
Professor Leigh Sparks of the University of Stirling’s institute for retail studies, and co-author of the study, said, “Consumers want their food to be made from natural ingredients, be additive-free, authentic, and non-genetically modified. These are the drivers of the clean food consumerism movement, and our CFC scale reflects those motivations and concerns.
“Our findings have implications for manufacturers of clean food, namely that they should focus not only on offering food that is healthier, familiar, and of high quality to consumers, but that they should emphasise the transparency of the production processes. Our hope is that the scale can form the basis for more detailed packaging and guidelines as this movement, and the market for related products, continues to grow.”
The authors said the next step should be introducing more regulations to further build consumer confidence and knowledge. “The clean food consumerism movement is moving at a fast pace, and legislation needs to keep up with that,” added Professor Sparks.
