Reducing food waste: The role of yogurt appearance and package information across consumer segments

Summary

In recent years, the food industry has prioritized minimizing food waste and promoting sustainability. Surface whey is a common quality defect in yogurt that can occur during storage, but it does not necessarily indicate that yogurt is unfit for consumption. This study aimed to investigate the impact of package information regarding surface whey, and yogurt appearance on consumers' willingness to consume (WTC) yogurt before and after the best-before date. First, two focus groups (n = 16) were performed to qualitatively explore consumers purchasing habits, general knowledge of quality defects in yogurts, and their behavior regarding food waste; the results were used to design a quantitative study. Norwegian consumers (n = 298) participated in an online survey. Consumers assessed their WTC, based on photos and videos of eight yogurt samples, in a conjoint test with a 3 × 2 factorial design. Results revealed that date labels and yogurt appearance significantly influence consumers' WTC yogurts, while package information had no significant effect. Consumers were segmented based on safety and quality concerns; hierarchical clustering showed two clusters. One concerned cluster, characterized by higher safety- and quality concerns, showed lower WTC yogurt past its best-before date compared to a less concerned cluster. The findings suggest that strategies to reduce food waste should prioritize encouraging companies to extend the shelf life of products and to reconsider any dates that might be overly cautious. Educating consumers about product quality beyond date labels rather than relying solely on package instructions, is also vital.