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Foods
Special Issues
Food Quality and Nutrition: Improving Consumer Behaviour
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Food Quality and Nutrition: Improving Consumer Behaviour

A special issue of Foods (ISSN 2304-8158). This special issue belongs to the section "Food Quality and Safety".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 September 2022) | Viewed by 10201

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. George Boskou

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Dep. Nutrition & Dietetics, Harokopio University, Athens, Greece
Interests: food safety management; total quality management; food legislation; food service operations; gastronomy
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Food quality is the most important determinant for the choices of consumers. Food safety and food identity are of course implicit quality values. However, food quality extends to the sensory properties of the food, the nutritional value, the packaging and labelling, the presentation, the availability, etc. In particular, nutritional value has become a major determinant for consumer choices since the advent of the 21st century. Not only did the nutritional information on the packaging become mandatory, but several schemes for the front of pack labelling to signify the “healthiness” of each food product emerged. Is food quality and nutrition affecting the consumer behaviour regarding their food choices or even their choices on food markets and food services? What is the information conveyed to the consumers regarding food quality and nutrition on the food packaging and presentation? Is there a legislative framework and law enforcement to protect the consumers from misleading information? The aim of this Special Issue is to address all the aspects of food quality and nutrition that may affect the consumer behaviour. Therefore, this Special Issue is addressed to food scientists, nutritionists, dietitians, marketing scientists, food and beverage managers, consumer scientists, and any other related discipline.

Prof. Dr. George Boskou
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Foods is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • food quality
  • nutrition
  • consumer
  • behaviour
  • food choices
  • labelling
  • nutritional information

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

14 pages, 2272 KiB  
Article
Maternal Diet Quality and the Health Status of Newborns
by Jitka Pavlikova, Antonin Ambroz, Katerina Honkova, Irena Chvojkova, Radim J. Sram, Pavel Rossner, Jr., Jan Topinka, Tomas Gramblicka, Ondrej Parizek, Denisa Parizkova, Jana Schmuczerova, Jana Pulkrabova and Andrea Rossnerova
Foods 2022, 11(23), 3893; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods11233893 - 2 Dec 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1617
Abstract
The maternal diet during pregnancy affects neonatal health status. The objective of this study was to assess the nutritional quality of the maternal diet, and its contamination by persistent organic pollutants (POPs), in pregnant women living in two areas of the Czech Republic [...] Read more.
The maternal diet during pregnancy affects neonatal health status. The objective of this study was to assess the nutritional quality of the maternal diet, and its contamination by persistent organic pollutants (POPs), in pregnant women living in two areas of the Czech Republic with different levels of air pollution, and subsequently to assess the relationship of these two factors with birth weight and neonatal oxidative stress. To determine the level of oxidative stress, 8-isoprostane concentrations in umbilical cord plasma were measured. The overall nutritional quality of the maternal diet was not optimal. Of the nutritional factors, protein intake proved to be the most significant showing a positive relationship with birth weight, and a negative relationship with the oxidative stress of newborns. Dietary contamination by persistent organic pollutants was low and showed no statistically significant relationship with birth weight. Only one of the 67 analyzed POPs, namely the insecticide dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT), showed a statistically significant positive relationship with the level of neonatal oxidative stress. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Food Quality and Nutrition: Improving Consumer Behaviour)
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14 pages, 2712 KiB  
Article
Effect of Different Thawing Methods on the Physicochemical Properties and Microstructure of Frozen Instant Sea Cucumber
by Xiaotong Ge, Hongli Wang, Mingyu Yin and Xichang Wang
Foods 2022, 11(17), 2616; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods11172616 - 29 Aug 2022
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 2199
Abstract
To provide recommendations to users regarding which thawing method for frozen instant sea cucumbers entails lower quality losses, in this study we compared the water retention, mechanical properties, protein properties, and microstructures of frozen instant sea cucumbers post-thawing by means of different thawing [...] Read more.
To provide recommendations to users regarding which thawing method for frozen instant sea cucumbers entails lower quality losses, in this study we compared the water retention, mechanical properties, protein properties, and microstructures of frozen instant sea cucumbers post-thawing by means of different thawing approaches, including refrigerator thawing (RT), air thawing (AT), water immersion thawing (WT), and ultrasound-assisted thawing (UT). The results indicated that UT took the shortest time. RT samples exhibited the best water-holding capacity, hardness and rheological properties, followed by UT samples. The α-helix and surface hydrophobicity of WT and AT samples were significantly lower than those of the first two methods (p < 0.05). The lowest protein maximum denaturation temperature (Tmax) was obtained by means of WT. AT samples had the lowest maximum fluorescence emission wavelength (λmax). Based on these results, WT and AT were more prone to the degradation of protein thermal stability and the destruction of the protein structure. Similarly, more crimping and fractures of the samples after WT and AT were observed in the sea cucumbers’ microstructures. Overall, we observed that UT can be used to maintain the quality of frozen instant sea cucumbers in the shortest time. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Food Quality and Nutrition: Improving Consumer Behaviour)
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19 pages, 329 KiB  
Article
Use and Understanding of Nutrition Labels: Impact of Diet Attachment
by Mar Giró-Candanedo, Anna Claret, Elena Fulladosa and Luis Guerrero
Foods 2022, 11(13), 1918; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods11131918 - 28 Jun 2022
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 3566
Abstract
Food labels may have an important function in communicating nutrition information and have considerable potential to influence food choice and dietary behavior. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate Spanish consumers’ reasons for reading or not reading nutrition information, their nutrition [...] Read more.
Food labels may have an important function in communicating nutrition information and have considerable potential to influence food choice and dietary behavior. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate Spanish consumers’ reasons for reading or not reading nutrition information, their nutrition knowledge, perception and understanding of nutrition label information, and the possible impact of following a diet on all these. A 74-item questionnaire was developed to assess nutrition knowledge, attitude toward food labels, reasons for never reading nutrition information, food choice, the perceived importance of nutrition facts, and label-reading behavior. The results indicated that dietary patterns, nutrition knowledge, and sociodemographic characteristics strongly influenced label use. Based on the participants’ beliefs, four segments were identified for those who followed a diet and three segments for those who did not. Our study suggests that following a diet increases Spanish consumers’ nutrition knowledge as well as their use of nutrition labels, although this cause-effect relationship could be reversed. Nonetheless, further studies would be necessary to clarify the causal direction. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Food Quality and Nutrition: Improving Consumer Behaviour)
13 pages, 838 KiB  
Article
A Hypothetical Tavern Menu for the Evaluation of Calorie Selection through Menu Labelling
by Katerina Giazitzi, Vasiliki Chrysanthakopoulou and George Boskou
Foods 2022, 11(11), 1624; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods11111624 - 31 May 2022
Viewed by 2126
Abstract
The purpose of the present study is to evaluate calories selection according to the type of menu labelling applied on a hypothetical Greek tavern menu. Three questionnaires were designed and each one included a hypothetical menu of Greek tavern food. Menu A did [...] Read more.
The purpose of the present study is to evaluate calories selection according to the type of menu labelling applied on a hypothetical Greek tavern menu. Three questionnaires were designed and each one included a hypothetical menu of Greek tavern food. Menu A did not include any nutritional information, Menu B included calorie posting and Menu C had the “NB” mark next to dishes that were Nutritionally Balanced choices. A total of 437 participants were recruited in the study. The mean calories selection was significantly lower on Menu B (1874 Kcal) and C (1787.7 Kcal) compared to Menu A (2157.3 Kcal). The overweight and obese participants ordered significantly fewer calories on Menu B (−504 Kcal and −404 Kcal) and C (−451.3 Kcal and −393 Kcal) than on the Menu A. Menu labelling should be assessed in real-life settings in Greece. It could be a policy for the prevention and control of obesity in European countries. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Food Quality and Nutrition: Improving Consumer Behaviour)
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