Anne Arvola

VTT Biotechnology, Finland

What do consumers think about organic foods?

The most common belief that consumers tend to have about organic food is, not surprisingly, that it tends to be more expensive than non-organic foods; then that organic food is more healthy, nutritious, tastes better than non-organic foods.   And also that it is more ‘natural’   - a rather non-specific term that is related to organic food.

Generally, consumers tend to have very positive views about organic food.   The only minor doubts they have tend to be about whether what is labelled as organic really is organically produced.   [There are also sometimes] doubts about appearance – some consumers may think that they don’t look as attractive as conventional foods. Or that perhaps the shelf life may be short.

‘Trust’ in organic foods is an issue in the case of some consumers, in particular in Germany it was a more prominent issue compared to other European countries, but it is only some consumers who are doubtful about organic food.   The more people use organic the more they tend to trust it.  

There was a tendency for consumers in Southern countries to have more positive beliefs in terms of more healthiness and better taste, but they also tended to have more negative beliefs - they tended to trust organic foods less and not find it as attractive as conventional foods. So there is a kind of contradiction here and therefore we looked at how the ‘experience’ of organic foods relates to this issue.

We found out that in Northern Countries, where there is a longer history of organic food use, consumers who had used organic foods for a long time tended to have more positive beliefs.   The difference between users and non-users opinions tends to be much greater in mature markets, whereas in Southern countries the users and non-users are all thinking the same thing about organic foods.  

The final values – personal values – behind consumers’ motivations to chose organic food seem to relate to general well-being, family well-being, feelings of responsibility to nature and also of security. Healthiness, leading to a longer healthier life is very important – maybe the most important personal motivation behind organic food choice.  

One of the most interesting things is the difference between users of organic foods and non-users in each country.   It seems that experience often leads to more positive beliefs.   Users have more complex thoughts around organic foods and have more thoughts around organic issues.  

Therefore it [should be] much easier to market more organic foods to those who already use organic foods. In contrast ,   non-users are more difficult to target as they don’t know much about organic food – at least they don’t think about it very much.  

However, the basic thoughts and beliefs about organic foods are very similar in users and non-users.

Anne Arvola
MSc (Social Psychology) of VTT Bitechnology Finland is a social scientist by training. Since 1996 the focus of her work has ben on food related consumer research. Her research aims to understand consumer acceptance, choice and consumption of food, and examines consumers’ food related perceptions, attitudes, beliefs and values. Her studies have focused on novel technology, organic production method or local production on the acceptance and perceptions of food.