IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0233287.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Food waste tendencies: Behavioral response to cosmetic deterioration of food

Author

Listed:
  • Vaneesha Dusoruth
  • Hikaru Hanawa Peterson

Abstract

American households discard a significant amount of food that represent a sizable portion of their food expenditures. This study adds to our understanding of product attributes associated with food waste, with a focus on cosmetic deterioration during home storage. Specifically, we profile a sample of U.S. individuals by patterns of common food-related behaviors and determine the effects of product attributes on food waste tendencies at the point of consumption by distinct behavioral profiles. An interactive survey at the Minnesota State Fair (N = 333) was used to obtain measurements on food-related behavior and sociodemographic factors. The survey included a conjoint task to elicit food discard tendencies to construct the food waste proxy. The study considered cosmetic deterioration, date labels, implied shelf life, package size, and prices paid, in fresh, packaged spinach and ground beef products. Factor analysis and latent class modeling categorized the sample into two classes, revealing distinct food-related behavioral patterns. Planners, who constituted a slight majority in our sample, were likely to have established pre-shopping and in-store behavior and food management and cooking skills. Extemporaneous Consumers had inferior food handling routines and were less knowledgeable and skilled in the kitchen. Regression analysis using a random-effects tobit model showed Extemporaneous Consumers were prone to waste a greater portion of the spinach product than Planners. Otherwise, both classes showed similar increases in likelihood to discard the products, as their appearance deteriorated. Their tendency to waste increased with shorter remaining shelf life for spinach but not for ground beef, and was not affected by the date label type. Results suggest an intervention that targets a general audience designed to enhance people’s skills to discern edibility of food in home storage by manipulating sensory expectations from cosmetic deterioration could be impactful in efforts to curtail food waste.

Suggested Citation

  • Vaneesha Dusoruth & Hikaru Hanawa Peterson, 2020. "Food waste tendencies: Behavioral response to cosmetic deterioration of food," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(5), pages 1-22, May.
  • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0233287
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0233287
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0233287
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0233287&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0233287?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Yue, Chengyan & Alfnes, Frode & Jensen, Helen H., 2009. "Discounting Spotted Apples: Investigating Consumers' Willingness to Accept Cosmetic Damage in an Organic Product," Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 41(1), pages 29-46, April.
    2. Ajzen, Icek, 1991. "The theory of planned behavior," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 50(2), pages 179-211, December.
    3. Buzby, Jean C. & Hyman, Jeffrey, 2012. "Total and per capita value of food loss in the United States," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(5), pages 561-570.
    4. Danyi Qi & Brian E. Roe, 2017. "Foodservice Composting Crowds Out Consumer Food Waste Reduction Behavior in a Dining Experiment," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 99(5), pages 1159-1171.
    5. Kevin D Hall & Juen Guo & Michael Dore & Carson C Chow, 2009. "The Progressive Increase of Food Waste in America and Its Environmental Impact," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 4(11), pages 1-6, November.
    6. Efrat Elimelech & Eyal Ert & Ofira Ayalon, 2019. "Exploring the Drivers behind Self-Reported and Measured Food Wastage," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(20), pages 1-19, October.
    7. Sendhil Mullainathan & Marianne Bertrand, 2001. "Do People Mean What They Say? Implications for Subjective Survey Data," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(2), pages 67-72, May.
    8. Bojana Bajželj & Keith S. Richards & Julian M. Allwood & Pete Smith & John S. Dennis & Elizabeth Curmi & Christopher A. Gilligan, 2014. "Importance of food-demand management for climate mitigation," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 4(10), pages 924-929, October.
    9. Bound, John & Brown, Charles & Mathiowetz, Nancy, 2001. "Measurement error in survey data," Handbook of Econometrics, in: J.J. Heckman & E.E. Leamer (ed.), Handbook of Econometrics, edition 1, volume 5, chapter 59, pages 3705-3843, Elsevier.
    10. Yue, Chengyan & Alfnes, Frode & Jensen, Helen H., 2009. "Discounting Spotted Apples: Investigating Consumersï¾’ Willingness to Accept Cosmetic Damage in an Organic Product," Staff General Research Papers Archive 12693, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    11. J.J. Heckman & E.E. Leamer (ed.), 2001. "Handbook of Econometrics," Handbook of Econometrics, Elsevier, edition 1, volume 5, number 5.
    12. Peterson, Robert A, 1994. "A Meta-analysis of Cronbach's Coefficient Alpha," Journal of Consumer Research, Oxford University Press, vol. 21(2), pages 381-391, September.
    13. Matthew James Grainger & Lusine Aramyan & Simone Piras & Thomas Edward Quested & Simone Righi & Marco Setti & Matteo Vittuari & Gavin Bruce Stewart, 2018. "Model selection and averaging in the assessment of the drivers of household food waste to reduce the probability of false positives," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(2), pages 1-16, February.
    14. Jessica Aschemann-Witzel & Ilona De Hooge & Pegah Amani & Tino Bech-Larsen & Marije Oostindjer, 2015. "Consumer-Related Food Waste: Causes and Potential for Action," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(6), pages 1-21, May.
    15. Brian E. Roe & Danyi Qi & Kathryn E. Bender & Julia Hilty, 2019. "Industry versus Government Regulation of Food Date Labels: Observed Adherence to Industry-Endorsed Phrases," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(24), pages 1-11, December.
    16. Secondi, Luca & Principato, Ludovica & Laureti, Tiziana, 2015. "Household food waste behaviour in EU-27 countries: A multilevel analysis," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 25-40.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jagoda Jungowska & Bartosz Kulczyński & Andrzej Sidor & Anna Gramza-Michałowska, 2021. "Assessment of Factors Affecting the Amount of Food Waste in Households Run by Polish Women Aware of Well-Being," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-16, January.
    2. Kotykova, Olena & Babych, Mykola & Oliinyk, Tetiana, 2020. "Заходи Щодо Скорочення Втрат Продовольства Та Харчових Відходів В Україні," Agricultural and Resource Economics: International Scientific E-Journal, Agricultural and Resource Economics: International Scientific E-Journal, vol. 6(4), December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Efrat Elimelech & Eyal Ert & Ofira Ayalon, 2019. "Exploring the Drivers behind Self-Reported and Measured Food Wastage," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(20), pages 1-19, October.
    2. Ovidija Eičaitė & Gitana Alenčikienė & Ingrida Pauliukaitytė & Alvija Šalaševičienė, 2021. "Eat or Throw Away? Factors Differentiating High Food Wasters from Low Food Wasters," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(19), pages 1-16, September.
    3. Min, Shi & Wang, Xiaobing & Yu, Xiaohua, 2021. "Does dietary knowledge affect household food waste in the developing economy of China?," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    4. Lingfei Wang & Yuqin Yang & Guoyan Wang, 2022. "The Clean Your Plate Campaign: Resisting Table Food Waste in an Unstable World," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(8), pages 1-17, April.
    5. Vera Amicarelli & Christian Bux, 2021. "Food waste in Italian households during the Covid-19 pandemic: a self-reporting approach," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 13(1), pages 25-37, February.
    6. Makhal, Annesha & Thyne, Maree & Robertson, Kirsten & Mirosa, Miranda, 2020. "“I don't like wonky carrots†- an exploration of children's perceptions of suboptimal fruits and vegetables," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    7. Thanos Ioannou & Katerina Bazigou & Afroditi Katsigianni & Michalis Fotiadis & Christina Chroni & Thrassyvoulos Manios & Ioannis Daliakopoulos & Christos Tsompanidis & Eleni Michalodimitraki & Katia L, 2022. "The “A2UFood Training Kit”: Participatory Workshops to Minimize Food Loss and Waste," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-24, February.
    8. Wolfgang Britz & Hasan Dudu & Ilaria Fusacchia & Yaghoob Jafari & Roberto Roson & Luca Salvatici & Martina Sartori, 2019. "Economy-wide analysis of food waste reductions and related costs," JRC Research Reports JRC113395, Joint Research Centre (Seville site).
    9. Lucie K. Ozanne & Paul W. Ballantine & Aimee McMaster, 2022. "Understanding Food Waste Produced by University Students: A Social Practice Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(17), pages 1-20, August.
    10. Dusoruth, Vaneesha, 2018. "Household Food Waste Generation and Organics Recycling: Too Time Consuming or for the Better [Public] Good?," 2018 Annual Meeting, August 5-7, Washington, D.C. 274132, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    11. Mario dos Santos Bulhões & Maria da Conceição Pereira da Fonseca & Darlan Azevedo Pereira & Márcio A. F. Martins, 2023. "Evaluation of Waste in Food Services: A Structural Equation Analysis Using Behavioral and Operational Factors," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-29, May.
    12. Alessandra C. Grasso & Margreet R. Olthof & Anja J. Boevé & Corné van Dooren & Liisa Lähteenmäki & Ingeborg A. Brouwer, 2019. "Socio-Demographic Predictors of Food Waste Behavior in Denmark and Spain," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(12), pages 1-14, June.
    13. Ananda, Jayanath & Gayana Karunasena, Gamithri & Pearson, David, 2022. "Identifying interventions to reduce household food waste based on food categories," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    14. Yalin Yuan & Hisako Nomura & Yoshifumi Takahashi & Mitsuyasu Yabe, 2016. "Model of Chinese Household Kitchen Waste Separation Behavior: A Case Study in Beijing City," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(10), pages 1-15, October.
    15. Beata Bilska & Marzena Tomaszewska & Danuta Kołożyn-Krajewska, 2019. "Analysis of the Behaviors of Polish Consumers in Relation to Food Waste," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-16, December.
    16. Valentina Gomes Haensel Schmitt & Mirza Marvel Cequea & Jessika Milagros Vásquez Neyra & Marcos Ferasso, 2021. "Consumption Behavior and Residential Food Waste during the COVID-19 Pandemic Outbreak in Brazil," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-21, March.
    17. Lea Kubíčková & Lucie Veselá & Marcela Kormaňáková, 2021. "Food Waste Behaviour at the Consumer Level: Pilot Study on Czech Private Households," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(20), pages 1-24, October.
    18. Peter Gottschalk & Minh Huynh, 2010. "Are Earnings Inequality and Mobility Overstated? The Impact of Nonclassical Measurement Error," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 92(2), pages 302-315, May.
    19. Johnson, Lisa K. & Dunning, Rebecca D. & Gunter, Chris C. & Dara Bloom, J. & Boyette, Michael D. & Creamer, Nancy G., 2018. "Field measurement in vegetable crops indicates need for reevaluation of on-farm food loss estimates in North America," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 167(C), pages 136-142.
    20. Luca Secondi, 2019. "Expiry Dates, Consumer Behavior, and Food Waste: How Would Italian Consumers React If There Were No Longer “Best Before” Labels?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(23), pages 1-15, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0233287. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.