A research report on consumer food waste drivers. Food waste is often portrayed as an issue which can easily be corrected, but from the consumer's perspective, what decisions go into throwing out food? "Some food waste analyses seem to treat household food waste as a “mistake” or careless decision; however, consumer decisions to waste also likely reflect trade-offs and economic incentives." This study finds that "food waste is a function of consumers’ demographic characteristics, and that decisions to discard food vary with contextual factors."
In the report, some interesting points are made.
"In the case of meal leftovers, respondents were generally less likely to waste the leftovers when the meal cost was high, when there were leftovers for a whole meal, when there were no future meal plans, and when the meal was prepared at home."
"With milk, the decision to waste was heavily impacted by food safety considerations as reflected in the smell of the product. Not surprisingly, milk that smelled slightly sour was more likely to be thrown out than milk that smelled fine—signaling individuals’ aversion to consuming a product they believe could make them or their family members ill (Graham-Rowe, Jessop, and Sparks 2014; Neff, Spiker, and Truant 2015). However, a subset of consumers opted to throw out the milk even when it smelled fine. This may be due to the expiration date information given in the vignette. In all scenarios, the milk was one day past its expiration, which may have caused some consumers to throw it out regardless of sensory properties."
"[We] found that younger individuals (18–44 years) were more likely to waste food than older consumers. Interestingly, this group was more likely to waste in contexts where a decision to waste was less intuitive—when the meal was higher-priced and when the milk smelled fine."
"[We] find that consumer segments respond differently to different decision attributes. As educational campaigns are identified as a critical solution in reducing food waste (Rethink Food Waste through Economics and Data 2016), understanding the heterogeneity in waste behaviors can enable policymakers or other advocacy groups to better target educational efforts to the households most susceptible for high levels of food waste."
One prominent factor is risk aversion regarding food safety. Rightfully so. People should not be made to feel they use food that is at a point where they feel the food is spoiled. Much focus has gone into what manufacturers do to extend the life of the product, rather then teaching people to be more thoughtful in using products before they get to the point where a decision has to be made.
PhysOrg
https://phys.org/news/2018-03-food-safe-decision.html#jC
Wasting food may be safe, reasonable decision for some, study says
March 15, 2018 by Brian Wallheimer, Purdue University
