Consumer Perception And Marketing Of Origin And Organic Labelled Food Products In Europe

Despite a high value image towards consumers, origin and organic labelled food products have a low market share in Europe that varies between European countries depending on the main channel used for sale. Among several labels used to highlight food products in Europe, those based on origin (PDO) or provenance (PGI) are increasingly being applied and complement the Organic Farming label. Origin labelled food products are mainly present in Southern Europe but we can find it in Northern countries too. Geographical spread seems inverse for organic labelled food products. Typical food products and food produced organically have always commanded a higher price than conventionally produced foods, a factor that was previously felt to have hindered the expansion of these products. They are still considered as niche markets and were once difficult to obtain other than in specialist outlets and local markets. They are now much more readily available on the shelves of the major supermarket chains across Europe. This article will focus on the place of such specific products within the European food market by means of recent studies. The consumer perception of food labels, his/her purchase behaviour within different sales channels, and the market share estimation of such products, will be seen successively.