**The Use of Organic Foods, Regional, Seasonal and Fresh Food in Public Caterings**

Jan Moudry Jr, Jan Moudry and Zuzana Jelinkova

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/61352

### **Abstract**

The chapter focuses on possibilities to improve the quality of meals in public, especially school catering facilities. It presents the options for diet modifications towards a sustainable use of organic foods, local and seasonal food by optimizing portions of meat and meals prepared of fresh ingredients. From an economic, environmental and nutritional point of view, evaluation and comparison of the original and optimized meals can contribute to a more efficient use of foods and motivate staff in public catering facilities to comprehensive food assessment.

An overall evaluation shows that more favourable nutritional parameters may be achieved by the optimization of meals. A greater use of local, seasonal and organic foods, a reduction in meat portions and lower level of processing make energy and greenhouse gas emission savings and it is possible to sustain the costs within standard. The purchase during a season and shortened distribution channels may compensate the higher price of organic foods. The trend of increased use of ready-to-cook foods does not usually lead to a higher nutritional and health quality, lesser burden on the environment and an economic effect. However, it may be assumed that the expansion of knowledge of catering managers of nutritional quality and environmental impacts, with better experience in optimizing meals and with the proper motivation, parame‐ ters of meals in public catering facilities may be combined and thus contribute to the sustainable management in food services.

**Keywords:** School meals, nutritional quality, environmental aspects, economics, optimi‐ zation

© 2016 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

### **1. Introduction**

The task of school meals is to provide proper nutrition to students during their stay at school and, at the same time, form positive nutritional, hygiene and social habits of students [1]. Generally, school meals should be an example of good nutrition and should make children acquainted with new meals that children do not know from home and, at the same time, teach them the food and dining culture [2]. It also aims at a change of wrong habits that children bring from their families. This includes, for instance, the insufficient consumption of fruit and vegetables, legumes, fish, wrong amount of food, less soup, higher consumption of sweet dishes, dumplings and fatty dishes. Consolidating and acquiring hygiene, cultural and social habits, which include personal hygiene (especially hand washing), the cultural and hygienic rules of dining, a proper use of cutlery, table manners etc., is also a part of this education [3]. Easy accessibility, mostly at the place of school attendance, and subsidized meals, which become available for all social groups, may be included among the positives of school catering. Certainly, mass catering has some disadvantages. These include a limited selection of dishes, poor quality of service (in essence, it is a self-service), often poorer quality of food, smaller portions, eating in haste, also the environment is not usually very calm and the optimal time and duration of a meal are not respected [4]. Catering managers, chefs and service staff, as well as methodological workers and educators, who train personnel for school catering facilities, are in a position to meet the considerable demands made of them due to efforts to eliminate the drawbacks.

The menu is the result of efforts to comply with the set of school food standards and regulations and also an operating plan of the facility for a certain period (usually a month). Menus are drawn up by school catering managers in collaboration with the executive chef in order to suit not only the principles of a healthy diet but also technical possibilities and staff deployment of the facility as well. They should be varied, creative, modern and meet the nutritional recommendations for children [5].

The principle of full use of seasonal market opportunities is very important. An executive chef must be familiar with the offer of foods, especially fruit and vegetables, and their prices. It is also important to take into account the operating conditions of the facility, technical and mechanical equipment of the kitchen, serving system, the number of staff and their qualifica‐ tion, the supply situation when drawing up a menu. The alternation of different cooking techniques is essential as well. Besides meat meals, the meals that contain vegetable protein (soufflés, vegetable, legume and cereal meals), meals accompanied by cheese, cottage cheese, dairy products should be put on the menu. Each lunch should be complemented by a vegetable side dish or a salad (excluding sweet meals), fruit or raw vegetables. In case of a necessary change of the menu, the alternative meal should be similar in the energy and biological content to the originally planned meal [6].

Menus in school catering facilities should be nutritionally balanced, offering tasty and attractive meals to diners not too financially demanding and, last but not least, manageable. The main tasks for the kitchen staff are:


### **2. Literature review**

**1. Introduction**

286 Organic Farming - A Promising Way of Food Production

the drawbacks.

recommendations for children [5].

to the originally planned meal [6].

The main tasks for the kitchen staff are:

The task of school meals is to provide proper nutrition to students during their stay at school and, at the same time, form positive nutritional, hygiene and social habits of students [1]. Generally, school meals should be an example of good nutrition and should make children acquainted with new meals that children do not know from home and, at the same time, teach them the food and dining culture [2]. It also aims at a change of wrong habits that children bring from their families. This includes, for instance, the insufficient consumption of fruit and vegetables, legumes, fish, wrong amount of food, less soup, higher consumption of sweet dishes, dumplings and fatty dishes. Consolidating and acquiring hygiene, cultural and social habits, which include personal hygiene (especially hand washing), the cultural and hygienic rules of dining, a proper use of cutlery, table manners etc., is also a part of this education [3]. Easy accessibility, mostly at the place of school attendance, and subsidized meals, which become available for all social groups, may be included among the positives of school catering. Certainly, mass catering has some disadvantages. These include a limited selection of dishes, poor quality of service (in essence, it is a self-service), often poorer quality of food, smaller portions, eating in haste, also the environment is not usually very calm and the optimal time and duration of a meal are not respected [4]. Catering managers, chefs and service staff, as well as methodological workers and educators, who train personnel for school catering facilities, are in a position to meet the considerable demands made of them due to efforts to eliminate

The menu is the result of efforts to comply with the set of school food standards and regulations and also an operating plan of the facility for a certain period (usually a month). Menus are drawn up by school catering managers in collaboration with the executive chef in order to suit not only the principles of a healthy diet but also technical possibilities and staff deployment of the facility as well. They should be varied, creative, modern and meet the nutritional

The principle of full use of seasonal market opportunities is very important. An executive chef must be familiar with the offer of foods, especially fruit and vegetables, and their prices. It is also important to take into account the operating conditions of the facility, technical and mechanical equipment of the kitchen, serving system, the number of staff and their qualifica‐ tion, the supply situation when drawing up a menu. The alternation of different cooking techniques is essential as well. Besides meat meals, the meals that contain vegetable protein (soufflés, vegetable, legume and cereal meals), meals accompanied by cheese, cottage cheese, dairy products should be put on the menu. Each lunch should be complemented by a vegetable side dish or a salad (excluding sweet meals), fruit or raw vegetables. In case of a necessary change of the menu, the alternative meal should be similar in the energy and biological content

Menus in school catering facilities should be nutritionally balanced, offering tasty and attractive meals to diners not too financially demanding and, last but not least, manageable.

### **2.1. The nutritional quality of meals**

The nutritional quality reflects a content of substances, which has positive effects on human nutrition, their internal composition and proportions. The nutritional role of school lunches involves delivery of about 35% of the recommended daily energy intake [2]. In modern history, there have been changes in eating habits and physical activity. More meat, meat products and sweets are eaten, a lot of sweet, chemically flavoured drinks are drunk, a sedentary lifestyle prevails. Naturally, this lifestyle leads to overweight and obesity. Many school cafeterias and vending machines placed in the corridors of schools, whose range of goods resemble classic fast food restaurants, which children prefer to healthier alternatives offered in school catering facilities, contribute to the unhealthy trend. The main deficiency is the internal structure of meals, often dominated by animal products and an associated excess of animal fat, cholesterol. Another problem is the inadequate intake of certain vitamins and minerals.

The nutritional intervention aimed at the change of technological methods of food preparation, that would still respect traditional Czech cuisine at the same time, appears to be a quick way to make school meals healthier. The intervention program has been running since 1993 and its principles read:


Recommended nutrient intakes are guidelines for creating so-called consumer's basket. It describes the average food consumption calculated from the basic range of foods in the form of "as purchased" (i.e. it takes into account losses, e.g. when trimming vegetables, fruits, etc.). Food consumption is expressed as a percentage and should correspond to the monthly average with allowance of ± 25% [10]. The consumption of meat, fish, milk, dairy products, fruit, vegetables, potatoes, legumes, sugar and fat may be monitored by means of the consumer basket [11]. There is a rule that the average intake of vegetables, fruit, fish and legumes represents the lower limit, which may be exceeded, and the intake of free fat and sugar represents the upper limit, that is desirable to be decreased [10]. Czech School Inspectorate and Regional Hygiene Station monitor if the consumer basket is respected [3]. Recommended nutrient intakes are updated at regular time intervals. Currently, the Czech Republic has adopted a new list of recommended nutrient intakes from the German-speaking Central European countries – the so-called Reference values for nutrient intake (DACH - Deutschland, Austria, Chuisse). These should be taken into account when developing new nutrition standards for school meals. However, setting up new consumer's baskets may not be as fast as it might occur. The reasons are economical, and perhaps political and social as well, also the current eating habits of our population may influence that. The recommended intake of protein is rapidly reduced (from current 2.4 g/kg of body weight to 0.9 g/kg of body weight) according to the DACH; therefore, it may cause some dissatisfaction of the part of diners within our eating habits [9].

The tool to combine different food commodities in order to meet the consumer's baskets is called "the recommended dietary variety". It is not officially set; however, it specifies the number of times in a month a certain type of food should be included on a menu: milk, legumes, fish, etc. [12]. Therefore, not only the fact that the consumer's basket is filled is observed but also the way it is filled in: e.g. preference of lean meat to fatty meat or smoked-meat products, raw or cooked vegetables to pickled, cutting down on sugary and fried meals (max. two per month), the inclusion of sufficient quantity of fish, legumes, substituting conventional side dishes with, for example, millet, buckwheat, couscous, oat flakes, etc., providing fruit and vegetables on a daily basis. The requirement for using different cooking techniques comes from the recommended dietary variety [6]. The different types of dishes should be included usually only once a month. Exceptions are seasonal foods that may be used more frequently. In addition to classic recipes, school catering facilities may use their own or regional recipes but they must comply with all the principles mentioned above [13].

When drawing up the menu, we are limited by the consumer basket and financial limit, and the recommended dietary variety is used as a guideline. Menu is usually drawn up by the catering manager in cooperation with the executive chef for a few weeks in advance, usually for a month, and later it is specified. It must conform not only to the principles of healthy nutrition but also financial, technical and personnel capabilities of the catering facility [5]. If, for any reason, a change is needed, an alternative dish should resemble the originally planned dish in terms of energetical, as well as biological aspects [6].

### **2.2. Ready-to-cook foods**

**•** Legumes – generally increase their share in the diet. Offer more frequently and in smaller

**•** Desserts – prefer healthier alternatives based on the processing of dairy products (cottage

**•** Fat – keep animal fat to a minimum, use vegetable oils (sunflower), preferably without heat

**•** The nutritional quality of school meals is based on the recommended nutrient intakes provided in 1989. These focus on the issue of energy demands, the major nutrients and other essential factors for the human body. They are based on the physiological needs of a human body and are calculated for different categories according to age, physical activity and

Recommended nutrient intakes are guidelines for creating so-called consumer's basket. It describes the average food consumption calculated from the basic range of foods in the form of "as purchased" (i.e. it takes into account losses, e.g. when trimming vegetables, fruits, etc.). Food consumption is expressed as a percentage and should correspond to the monthly average with allowance of ± 25% [10]. The consumption of meat, fish, milk, dairy products, fruit, vegetables, potatoes, legumes, sugar and fat may be monitored by means of the consumer basket [11]. There is a rule that the average intake of vegetables, fruit, fish and legumes represents the lower limit, which may be exceeded, and the intake of free fat and sugar represents the upper limit, that is desirable to be decreased [10]. Czech School Inspectorate and Regional Hygiene Station monitor if the consumer basket is respected [3]. Recommended nutrient intakes are updated at regular time intervals. Currently, the Czech Republic has adopted a new list of recommended nutrient intakes from the German-speaking Central European countries – the so-called Reference values for nutrient intake (DACH - Deutschland, Austria, Chuisse). These should be taken into account when developing new nutrition standards for school meals. However, setting up new consumer's baskets may not be as fast as it might occur. The reasons are economical, and perhaps political and social as well, also the current eating habits of our population may influence that. The recommended intake of protein is rapidly reduced (from current 2.4 g/kg of body weight to 0.9 g/kg of body weight) according to the DACH; therefore, it may cause some dissatisfaction of the part of diners within

The tool to combine different food commodities in order to meet the consumer's baskets is called "the recommended dietary variety". It is not officially set; however, it specifies the number of times in a month a certain type of food should be included on a menu: milk, legumes, fish, etc. [12]. Therefore, not only the fact that the consumer's basket is filled is observed but also the way it is filled in: e.g. preference of lean meat to fatty meat or smoked-meat products, raw or cooked vegetables to pickled, cutting down on sugary and fried meals (max. two per month), the inclusion of sufficient quantity of fish, legumes, substituting conventional side dishes with, for example, millet, buckwheat, couscous, oat flakes, etc., providing fruit and vegetables on a daily basis. The requirement for using different cooking techniques comes from the recommended dietary variety [6]. The different types of dishes should be included

portions (e.g. adding to soups, minced meat, soufflés and salads).

treatment (salads), reduce the use of roux [8].

288 Organic Farming - A Promising Way of Food Production

physiological condition [9].

our eating habits [9].

cheese, custard), use oat flakes, whole meal flour, reduce sugar and fat.

There have been growing requirements in the area of food preparation, hygiene and final treatment and dining, that modern and classic gastronomy has to meet. There are four basic guidelines to prepare and distribute meals in a public catering facility:


distribution of meals. The temperature when served is then 65°C. For cold foods, the temperature should be in the range of 8–10°C. The system of hot meals (60%) dominates, followed by the joint catering facility (about 20%) at the full-time German schools.

In the Czech Republic, the system of the joint catering facilities still clearly dominates. In Europe and around the world, there are significant differences in terms of the range of school meals, support and forms of preparation and distribution of meals. The differences result from the traditions, economic strength and social policies of individual countries. Globalization trends have brought an increase in the use of ready-to-cook foods, convenience foods and ready-to-eat meals, which always have a higher degree of processing than the base material, in a number of countries and in the Czech Republic as well. These dishes or foods, convenient for immediate consumption, are in most cases frozen, canned or dehydrated and therefore they must be somehow processed before consumption. The importance of using ready-to-cook foods has its benefits, especially in terms of time savings needed to prepare, workforce and costs, they extend the range of dishes, which would be difficult to prepare in ordinary kitchens, support the creativity of a chef. Some facilities are unreasonably mistrustful of these foods and products. Partially, they may be put off a higher price of the ready-to-cook foods, even though the difference is relative in many cases. It is worth being aware, however, when the use of ready-to-cook foods is appropriate and in what cases we may do without them. Chlumská [14] points out a finding that the use of ready-to-cook foods or ready-to-eat meals is one of the most common complaints against the school board from conscious parents. According to her, school catering facilities tend to use these products partly because the market offers an increasingly greater choice, as well as due to reduction of staff, when school catering facilities must provide the preparation of meals with fewer employees than before.

### **2.3. Economic aspects of school meals**

Depending on how the school board is managed and how the state and municipalities participate, European countries may be divided approximately into three groups: the first one includes the states where school meals are provided to children for free (Finland and Sweden), the second one includes the states where school meals are organized centrally or regionally in some way and the costs are partly covered by the state or municipalities (France, Belgium), and finally in the third group there are states where school meals are not uniformly organized or not implemented in the way that we know in the Czech Republic [15].

School meals are not based on profit in most countries, thus differ from conventional manu‐ facturing company in a market economy. Therefore, costs are one of the most important criteria and affect pricing greatly. The cost of providing food service may be, in terms of the types of costs, divided into the costs of foods, personnel costs – salaries, training and social statutory costs and operating costs – energy, other materials, services, depreciation, etc. [16].

In countries that support school meals, diners only cover a portion of the actual price of the meals. School facilities in the Czech Republic must follow nutritional standards, the average consumption of foods and financial specifications for the purchase of foods for each age group. The part of the price of a meal paid by parents (i.e. the price of foods) may be set differently based on an agreement with parents at private schools. At schools that are run by municipal‐ ities, county or state, the price of foods is limited by so-called financial specifications, which are specified in the school food regulation [14]. The set financial specification must amount to the sum that enables a school catering facility to meet the requirements for the consumer's basket. It also specifies the financial spread – an amount of money that school facilities may use to make a lunch – i.e. soup, main course, salad, dessert and beverage [15]. At present, the cost for foods to make a lunch for one diner ranges from 14 to 37 CZK, which corresponds to 0.5 – 1.2 Euro, in the Czech Republic.

Personnel costs include wages and salaries of the employees of the facility, their further education and working instruments and are funded from the state budget.

Energy consumption, costs of services, costs of other materials and depreciation of tangible assets make up a significant portion of operating costs. These costs are covered by the institutor. Although the amount of personnel and other operating costs are based on a calculation, it is not a normative expense but a cost that may be influenced by an effective and efficient use of available resources [16].

From an economic point of view, the quality of school meals may be influenced in a few ways only, virtually through bargains, donations or grants as extra sources of money [1]. The more diners of a facility, the easier it may be to achieve beneficial agreements or quantity discounts for ordered foods. Purchase of seasonal foods, especially fruits and vegetables, is another way to influence the price of foods and respect the nutritional standards at the same time. Their price change regularly according to a season and thus to their availability. The money saved on purchase may be used to enrich and improve (pot. make cheaper) the diet [17].

### **2.4. Environmental aspects of school meals**

distribution of meals. The temperature when served is then 65°C. For cold foods, the temperature should be in the range of 8–10°C. The system of hot meals (60%) dominates, followed by the joint catering facility (about 20%) at the full-time German schools. In the Czech Republic, the system of the joint catering facilities still clearly dominates. In Europe and around the world, there are significant differences in terms of the range of school meals, support and forms of preparation and distribution of meals. The differences result from the traditions, economic strength and social policies of individual countries. Globalization trends have brought an increase in the use of ready-to-cook foods, convenience foods and ready-to-eat meals, which always have a higher degree of processing than the base material, in a number of countries and in the Czech Republic as well. These dishes or foods, convenient for immediate consumption, are in most cases frozen, canned or dehydrated and therefore they must be somehow processed before consumption. The importance of using ready-to-cook foods has its benefits, especially in terms of time savings needed to prepare, workforce and costs, they extend the range of dishes, which would be difficult to prepare in ordinary kitchens, support the creativity of a chef. Some facilities are unreasonably mistrustful of these foods and products. Partially, they may be put off a higher price of the ready-to-cook foods, even though the difference is relative in many cases. It is worth being aware, however, when the use of ready-to-cook foods is appropriate and in what cases we may do without them. Chlumská [14] points out a finding that the use of ready-to-cook foods or ready-to-eat meals is one of the most common complaints against the school board from conscious parents. According to her, school catering facilities tend to use these products partly because the market offers an increasingly greater choice, as well as due to reduction of staff, when school catering facilities must provide

Depending on how the school board is managed and how the state and municipalities participate, European countries may be divided approximately into three groups: the first one includes the states where school meals are provided to children for free (Finland and Sweden), the second one includes the states where school meals are organized centrally or regionally in some way and the costs are partly covered by the state or municipalities (France, Belgium), and finally in the third group there are states where school meals are not uniformly organized

School meals are not based on profit in most countries, thus differ from conventional manu‐ facturing company in a market economy. Therefore, costs are one of the most important criteria and affect pricing greatly. The cost of providing food service may be, in terms of the types of costs, divided into the costs of foods, personnel costs – salaries, training and social statutory

In countries that support school meals, diners only cover a portion of the actual price of the meals. School facilities in the Czech Republic must follow nutritional standards, the average consumption of foods and financial specifications for the purchase of foods for each age group. The part of the price of a meal paid by parents (i.e. the price of foods) may be set differently

costs and operating costs – energy, other materials, services, depreciation, etc. [16].

the preparation of meals with fewer employees than before.

or not implemented in the way that we know in the Czech Republic [15].

**2.3. Economic aspects of school meals**

290 Organic Farming - A Promising Way of Food Production

Our eating habits are created especially in the context of public catering. High-quality and healthy foods in catering facilities show not only the value chain of diners but also an envi‐ ronmental responsibility. A sustainable economic system must support especially environ‐ mental-friendly regional production and consumption of fresh natural foods.

Food production uses an increasing amount of energy with a corresponding negative impact on the environment. An important factor is the origin of foods, resp. transport distance from a producer to a consumer. A reduction in the proportion of meat on the menus and consump‐ tion of regional vegetable products allows caterers to reduce the impact on the environment. The negative impacts of the use of ready-to-cook foods or ready-to-eat meals, processed products and products stored for a long time outweigh their benefits due to the heating and cooling of foods, special packaging and transport costs [18].

Research shows that the use of local, seasonal and organic foods and the preparation of fresh meals of them may significantly reduce the proportion of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) in catering facilities.

An indirect energy consumption, i.e. energy that comes from foods, their production, proc‐ essing and trade, constitutes up to 63% of total GHG emissions in catering facilities. The largest amount of GHG comes from meat in catering facilities. The use of meat and meat products in Austrian catering facilities makes up 14% of the total amount of the foods, therefore 63% share of GHG emissions in the indirect energy consumption is very high.

The implementation of sustainable diets and thus optimized meat portions and increases of the share of vegetarian dishes have also saving potentials within GHG emissions. Vegetarian dishes produce up to 99% less GHG emissions in comparison with meat dishes. Also the use of regional and seasonal foods and organic foods makes emissions savings. Local foods have the potential to save up to 50%. Using foods from an organic production can reach up to 40% savings. A level of food processing plays an important role in addition to the criteria of regionality, seasonality and organic farming with regard to the GHG emission topics. Each step represents a further production of GHG. One kilogram of fresh conventional potatoes produces 0.31 kg CO2 eq, but one kilogram of potato chips produces 4.36 kg of CO2 . The trend of an increased use of ready-to-cook foods in catering facilities has primarily economic reasons (e.g. less staff needed). However, this is often compensated by a greater need for goods. Constant heating and cooling, special packaging and food miles (mileage when transporting food to the kitchen) and often questionable additives as well have negative effects on the environment [18].

### **2.5. Local foods**

School catering facilities are one of the major purchasers of local products [19]. The reason for the preference of local foods is that these foods are much fresher due to short distribution routes than the foods that take long-distance routes. Therefore, fresher local foods generally tend to taste better and more valuable nutritional parameters. The fact that the closer the food is to the consumer, the lesser burden on the environment during their transport is also important. Reduction in the proportion of meat on the menus and consumption of local vegetable products allow caterers to significantly reduce environmental impacts, as well as take into account the financial aspect (Eagri-Regionální potravina, 2009–2013). An extension of the path that an agricultural product takes from the producer to the consumer may lead to a loss of authenticity. Consumers and also control bodies may supervise the foods produced in local conditions better and thus there is an indirect pressure on producers to maintain the quality of their products at a high level. Another reason for the preference of local foods is that these foods are much fresher due to short distribution routes than the foods that take longdistance routes. Therefore, fresher local foods generally tend to taste better and more valuable nutritional parameters. The fact that the closer the food is to the consumer, the lesser burden on the environment during their transport is also important [20]. A significant aspect to prioritize local foods is that it promotes employment in the region. Then prosperous farmers, processors and vendors represent a guarantee of maintaining or even expanding the number of jobs.

### **2.6. Organic foods**

Reasons for the introduction of organic foods in schools are mainly attempts to encourage children to eat healthier and better diet. Equally important is the positive impact on dietary habits and a healthy lifestyle. Organic foods are not used in school catering facilities in the Czech Republic very frequently. Currently, it is estimated that approximately 150–300 kindergartens and schools use organic foods in significant quantities, which represents about 1.5–3% of the total 10,500 schools (nursery, primary and secondary schools). The schools that have participated in one of the pilot projects for the introduction of organic foods in schools or alternative schools (especially Waldorf kindergartens and schools), where the use of organic food is a part of their philosophy, have been ahead [14]. The reason for the low interest in organic foods is their high price. Currently, no financial subsidies for their purchase are provided [21]. However, the price of school meals in the school catering facilities, which have introduced organic foods, has increased only very moderately by about 10%. Organic cereal products, legumes and dairy products are used most often. Conversely, baked goods, meat and meat products and other products are used in the smallest amounts in schools. Many countries have supported the use of organic foods in schools and other public catering facilities in various ways including legislative measures, subsidies and other incentives. For example, the Italian government has adopted a law requiring the use of organic products in school catering facilities. Therefore, the Italian legal system" creates direct and explicit relationship between local organic products and catering services." This national law has created an environment that encourages many municipal authorities to start purchasing organic prod‐ ucts. The support of catering facilities, while optimizing diets that account of local, seasonal, fresh and organic foods, will enhance regional economic structures, potential energy savings in catering facilities and offer healthier boarding

### **3. Objective of the study**

amount of GHG comes from meat in catering facilities. The use of meat and meat products in Austrian catering facilities makes up 14% of the total amount of the foods, therefore 63% share

The implementation of sustainable diets and thus optimized meat portions and increases of the share of vegetarian dishes have also saving potentials within GHG emissions. Vegetarian dishes produce up to 99% less GHG emissions in comparison with meat dishes. Also the use of regional and seasonal foods and organic foods makes emissions savings. Local foods have the potential to save up to 50%. Using foods from an organic production can reach up to 40% savings. A level of food processing plays an important role in addition to the criteria of regionality, seasonality and organic farming with regard to the GHG emission topics. Each step represents a further production of GHG. One kilogram of fresh conventional potatoes

of an increased use of ready-to-cook foods in catering facilities has primarily economic reasons (e.g. less staff needed). However, this is often compensated by a greater need for goods. Constant heating and cooling, special packaging and food miles (mileage when transporting food to the kitchen) and often questionable additives as well have negative effects on the

School catering facilities are one of the major purchasers of local products [19]. The reason for the preference of local foods is that these foods are much fresher due to short distribution routes than the foods that take long-distance routes. Therefore, fresher local foods generally tend to taste better and more valuable nutritional parameters. The fact that the closer the food is to the consumer, the lesser burden on the environment during their transport is also important. Reduction in the proportion of meat on the menus and consumption of local vegetable products allow caterers to significantly reduce environmental impacts, as well as take into account the financial aspect (Eagri-Regionální potravina, 2009–2013). An extension of the path that an agricultural product takes from the producer to the consumer may lead to a loss of authenticity. Consumers and also control bodies may supervise the foods produced in local conditions better and thus there is an indirect pressure on producers to maintain the quality of their products at a high level. Another reason for the preference of local foods is that these foods are much fresher due to short distribution routes than the foods that take longdistance routes. Therefore, fresher local foods generally tend to taste better and more valuable nutritional parameters. The fact that the closer the food is to the consumer, the lesser burden on the environment during their transport is also important [20]. A significant aspect to prioritize local foods is that it promotes employment in the region. Then prosperous farmers, processors and vendors represent a guarantee of maintaining or even expanding the number

Reasons for the introduction of organic foods in schools are mainly attempts to encourage children to eat healthier and better diet. Equally important is the positive impact on dietary

eq, but one kilogram of potato chips produces 4.36 kg of CO2

. The trend

of GHG emissions in the indirect energy consumption is very high.

produces 0.31 kg CO2

292 Organic Farming - A Promising Way of Food Production

environment [18].

**2.5. Local foods**

of jobs.

**2.6. Organic foods**

The main objective of the UMBESA project is to support catering facilities when introducing sustainable diets. This can be achieved by increased use of organic, local, seasonal and fresh foods and reducing meat portions. These steps should support not only the environmental protection but also physiological and optimal nutrition. The project consisted of five main parts. The first part focused on the current consumption of foods and diet composition in school catering facilities, these documents should establish a basis for change. The second part dealt with the evaluation of similar projects, which aimed to introduce the above mentioned criteria towards sustainable diets and the objective was to identify the strengths and weaknesses of these projects. The third part aimed to identify the current networks of suppliers of school catering facilities and stakeholders who are involved in the field of public catering, at the same time, new stakeholders were identified and a new network, meeting the sustainability criteria (e.g. regional and organic suppliers), was proposed. The fourth part of the project had as its object assessment of opinions on the current state of catering services and the state after introducing some changes (see the fifth part of the project), a survey had been carried out. The fifth part of the project dealt with the actual implementation of changes and it is discussed in this chapter as the main output of the project.

As described before, the aim of the experiments within the project is an active support of the introduction of sustainable diet in catering facilities. In selected school catering facilities, certain recipes were chosen (hereinafter original dishes) and modified (hereinafter optimized dishes) according to the criteria of sustainability (an introduction of ecological, local and fresh foods and a reduction in meat portions). These two dishes were evaluated and compared within the selected criteria. The aim of this part was to assess whether a change of diet contributes to sustainability and also answer the following questions:


### **4. Methodology**

Methodical procedure briefly describes the methodology of the individual parts of the project, with the greatest focus on the methodology of experimental cooking and their evaluation.

### **4.1. Analysis of foods and menus**

Lists had been drawn for each school, which grouped foods into appropriate groups using the annual statement of the shopping list of foods for the reference year of 2011, which included the price of foods, as well as their suppliers. At the same time, the lists had been drawn up and assessed according to their origin – regionality of foods, their seasonality, processing – frozen, fresh and ready-to-cook foods and also from the perspective of organic production. Further‐ more, the lists of dishes according to the proportion of main ingredients – meat, vegetarian and sweet, as well as proportions of organic ingredients, ready-to-cook foods and local ingredients, had been drawn up according to the menu.

### **4.2. Search of similar projects**

Two Austrian, two Czech and two international projects were selected to map out the initial conditions, implementation and factors for success and failure. The authorized representatives of these projects were interviewed; the interviews were subsequently evaluated and reduced in accordance with the summarizing criteria. The analysis according to Kotter's 8-Step Change Model "Leading Change" [22] was performed. The supporting factors, as well as inhibiting factors of success, were found.

### **4.3. Networking**

In the first instance, the current network of suppliers in various catering facilities was identified as a part of search of the ingredient consumption, see Section 4.1. As a second step, a potential supplier network was found and an extensive list of suppliers in various regions and districts was drawn up. At the same time, the selected suppliers were questioned regarding their attitudes to the issue of regionality and seasonality of offered products while creating the potential network. The last activity within networking was to create groupings of regional participants and set up the Steering Committee of the project that discussed the progress of the project and inclusion of dissemination of the results of individual project activities at regular meetings.

### **4.4. Survey among diners**

certain recipes were chosen (hereinafter original dishes) and modified (hereinafter optimized dishes) according to the criteria of sustainability (an introduction of ecological, local and fresh foods and a reduction in meat portions). These two dishes were evaluated and compared within the selected criteria. The aim of this part was to assess whether a change of diet

**•** What measures can be realized in catering facilities to optimize towards sustainability?

**•** What economic, ecological and nutritional–physiological positives and negatives arise in

Methodical procedure briefly describes the methodology of the individual parts of the project, with the greatest focus on the methodology of experimental cooking and their evaluation.

Lists had been drawn for each school, which grouped foods into appropriate groups using the annual statement of the shopping list of foods for the reference year of 2011, which included the price of foods, as well as their suppliers. At the same time, the lists had been drawn up and assessed according to their origin – regionality of foods, their seasonality, processing – frozen, fresh and ready-to-cook foods and also from the perspective of organic production. Further‐ more, the lists of dishes according to the proportion of main ingredients – meat, vegetarian and sweet, as well as proportions of organic ingredients, ready-to-cook foods and local

Two Austrian, two Czech and two international projects were selected to map out the initial conditions, implementation and factors for success and failure. The authorized representatives of these projects were interviewed; the interviews were subsequently evaluated and reduced in accordance with the summarizing criteria. The analysis according to Kotter's 8-Step Change Model "Leading Change" [22] was performed. The supporting factors, as well as inhibiting

In the first instance, the current network of suppliers in various catering facilities was identified as a part of search of the ingredient consumption, see Section 4.1. As a second step, a potential supplier network was found and an extensive list of suppliers in various regions and districts was drawn up. At the same time, the selected suppliers were questioned regarding their attitudes to the issue of regionality and seasonality of offered products while creating the potential network. The last activity within networking was to create groupings of regional

contributes to sustainability and also answer the following questions:

catering facilities using sustainable foods?

294 Organic Farming - A Promising Way of Food Production

ingredients, had been drawn up according to the menu.

**4. Methodology**

**4.1. Analysis of foods and menus**

**4.2. Search of similar projects**

factors of success, were found.

**4.3. Networking**

The survey was carried out in the form of two questionnaires, one at the beginning and another one at the end of the project. The questionnaire included topics such as satisfaction with the catering facility, with its offer, attitude of staff, questions about eating habits of the respondents and, in conclusion, inquiries concerning the project itself. Descriptive statistics, factor and group analysis had been used to evaluate the results and a profile of borders that may be used to propose specific changes to catering facilities was set.

### **4.5. Experimental cooking**

In the fifth part of the project, practical experiments in the context of experimental cooking were carried out, where an original and optimized dish was cooked and mutually compared. The recipes for the original and optimized dishes were presented and recorded by the chosen catering facilities. Relevant data including the preparation of foods, recipes, cooking process (time, equipment used, number of employees, water consumption) were collected during each cooking. The dishes were evaluated from several different vantage points.

### *4.5.1. Environmental assessments*

Ecological assessment was performed by analyzing CO2 emissions. CO2 emissions of foods that had been identified within the SUKI project [23] were used as baseline data. The emission burden data of foods that had not been investigated within the SUKI project were comple‐ mented by the literature and the GEMIS database search. CO2 emissions were determined within the ingredients that are most important in terms of quantity. It was necessary to determine CO2 emissions by at least 50% of the ingredients for one dish.

### *4.5.2. Economic assessments*

Economic assessment was performed by analyzing costs. The following costs were included into the analysis:


### *4.5.3. Nutritional–physiological assessment*

The calculation of nutrients was made with the help of a nutrition consultant. The production method (biological, conventional) was not taken into account within the nutritional–physio‐ logical assessment. Original and optimized dishes were compared with respect to the amount of calories, protein, fat, carbohydrates and fibre.

### *4.5.4. Organic – Regional – Seasonal*

The proportions of biological, local and seasonal ingredients were determined within the original and optimized dishes.

### *4.5.5. Qualitative assessment*

A sensory evaluation test was used. The test includes food tasting carried out either by the staff themselves or by diners. The results were discussed with the managers of the catering facilities.

### **5. Results**

This part briefly describes the main results of each stage of the project with the greatest focus on the assessment of the experimental part of the project, i.e. experimental cooking.

### **5.1. Analysis of foods and diets**


catering facilities in smaller towns, logically, the reason for that is a larger food market and offer in bigger cities. From the local production, meat, dairy products, cereal products, fruit and vegetables prevail. Most ready-to-cook and frozen products have their origins outside the region.

**•** The analysis of main meals shows that 62% of the main meals are meat meals. Vegetarian meals make up 21%, fish meals 7% and sweet meals 9%.

### **5.2. Search of similar projects**

logical assessment. Original and optimized dishes were compared with respect to the amount

The proportions of biological, local and seasonal ingredients were determined within the

A sensory evaluation test was used. The test includes food tasting carried out either by the staff themselves or by diners. The results were discussed with the managers of the catering

This part briefly describes the main results of each stage of the project with the greatest focus

**•** The analysis of food consumption in Czech catering facilities showed that the most used group of foods is vegetables (including potatoes) at 34%. The other most commonly used group consists of the cereal products at 16%. They are followed by meat and meat products, as well as dairy products at 14%. The proportion of fruit is 11%. The last group at 12%

**•** The proportion of fresh ingredients is on average 78%, 6% of frozen ingredients and 16% of

**•** Currently, organic foods are not used in Czech catering facilities or they are used in quantities of less than 1%. That is due to a limited budget for foods and prohibitive costs of organic foods. This corresponds to the total organic food market situation in the Czech Republic, which has not been sufficiently developed yet, the share of organic production on arable land is still too small to successfully compete with conventional products in catering. **•** The proportional share of seasonal fruit and vegetables varies from 30 to 90%. It reaches 47% on an average. Undoubtedly, the potato consumption is the biggest item accounting for about 60%. Another important item consists of onions, cabbage, carrots, tomatoes and cucumbers. From fruits, the most important are apples and plums of our domestic produc‐ tion. It is worth noting that the second most frequently used fruits are bananas, which do not meet the criteria of sustainability, both seasonal and local, and it would be good to

**•** The proportional share of local products varies from 17 to 86%. The average is 39%. The analysis shows that the catering facilities in bigger cities use less local products than the

on the assessment of the experimental part of the project, i.e. experimental cooking.

of calories, protein, fat, carbohydrates and fibre.

*4.5.4. Organic – Regional – Seasonal*

296 Organic Farming - A Promising Way of Food Production

original and optimized dishes.

**5.1. Analysis of foods and diets**

includes other products.

ready-to-cook products.

substitute them with domestic fruit.

*4.5.5. Qualitative assessment*

facilities.

**5. Results**

Based on a detailed analysis of six successful projects (Kuratorium of Vienna Retirement homes, the project in the catering facility of the Lower Austrian provincial office, German restaurant ESPRIT, Italian project iPOPY and the Prober Union, two Czech projects "Organic food for schools" and "School full of health"), there are these fundamental factors of success:


### **5.3. Networking**

An important outcome of networking was a catalogue of ingredient suppliers in each region that was provided to catering facilities in order to enable them to obtain ingredients from local suppliers. The project had been also promoted and consulted within the Steering Committee composed of representatives of the government, experts and business leaders. The survey among suppliers resulted in the following main conclusions:

**•** It is very important to document the origin of products according to the surveyed suppliers. About 74% of interviewed producers expect that the regionality becomes a sales argument in the future. The amount depends primarily on the size and trade tendency of the producer. Smaller producers try to show the quality of their products using the regionality. The current problem is too many regional brands, which people may find confusing, as well as selling products under a foreign brand and a lack of awareness about the quality of local foods. More than a half of respondents think that the regional origin does not affect the price.


### **5.4. Survey among diners**

About 703 diners of participating Czech catering facilities participated in the first wave of the survey and 713 diners in the second wave. Overall, it may be summarized that their satisfaction with the catering facility, its atmosphere and quality of food had increased.

### **5.5. Experimental cooking**

At least three experimental cooking of original and optimized meals, which were compared using several criteria, took place in each partner catering facility. As an example, the experi‐ mental cooking of tomato sauce with beef is being described here.

The original meal consisted of classic tomato sauce with beef and bread dumplings. The optimized meal included a reduced portion of meat and turkey meat substituted for beef, couscous for bread dumplings and some of the ingredients in an optimized meal came from organic production.

### *5.5.1. Economic assessment*

The analysis shows that the costs of optimized meal are by 17% higher. The price per serving is 0.2 EUR higher. More expensive are especially the costs of ingredients and personnel costs, it is due to a greater need for active involvement of staff. Conversely, operating costs are lower because simpler technological demands for preparation dominate.

### *5.5.2. Environmental assessment*

Ecological assessment shows about 69% smaller environmental burden when cooked opti‐ mized meals. The ingredients for the original and optimized meal in the total proportion of 99% were included into the assessment.

### *5.5.3. Nutritional–physiological assessment*

products under a foreign brand and a lack of awareness about the quality of local foods. More than a half of respondents think that the regional origin does not affect the price.

**•** The seasonality issue concerns mainly fruit and vegetable producers. A large group of the interviewed producers rely on stable buyers who are familiar with seasons when different kinds of fruits and vegetables ripen; therefore, they do not need to be further informed. They

**•** Regarding the expansion of product diversity, 70% of interviewed producers draw up their offer not concerning reactions of consumers. If we evaluate the cooperation of the producers, we find out that most of them have both stable and vague relationships, as well as regionally focused relationships, because these groups complement each other and eventually

**•** It is gratifying to note that most local producers have an increasing interest in their products and that the society slowly begins to realize the true quality and value of local products.

About 703 diners of participating Czech catering facilities participated in the first wave of the survey and 713 diners in the second wave. Overall, it may be summarized that their satisfaction

At least three experimental cooking of original and optimized meals, which were compared using several criteria, took place in each partner catering facility. As an example, the experi‐

The original meal consisted of classic tomato sauce with beef and bread dumplings. The optimized meal included a reduced portion of meat and turkey meat substituted for beef, couscous for bread dumplings and some of the ingredients in an optimized meal came from

The analysis shows that the costs of optimized meal are by 17% higher. The price per serving is 0.2 EUR higher. More expensive are especially the costs of ingredients and personnel costs, it is due to a greater need for active involvement of staff. Conversely, operating costs are lower

Ecological assessment shows about 69% smaller environmental burden when cooked opti‐ mized meals. The ingredients for the original and optimized meal in the total proportion of

do not intend to include the seasonality as the sales argument.

intersect, for example, when a customer becomes a stable client.

with the catering facility, its atmosphere and quality of food had increased.

mental cooking of tomato sauce with beef is being described here.

because simpler technological demands for preparation dominate.

**5.4. Survey among diners**

298 Organic Farming - A Promising Way of Food Production

**5.5. Experimental cooking**

organic production.

*5.5.1. Economic assessment*

*5.5.2. Environmental assessment*

99% were included into the assessment.

One portion of the original dish contains 601 calories, 33 grams of protein, 11 grams of fat, 96 grams of carbohydrates and 4 grams of fibre. A portion of the optimized dish contains 513 calories, 35 grams of protein, 14 grams of fat, 63 grams of carbohydrates and 5 grams of fibre. The nutritional values were taken from nutritional tables. The percentage difference of indicators is shown in Figure 1.

**Figure 1.** Nutritional-physiological assessment of tomato sauce

### *5.5.4. Assessment according to the production method (organic, conventional)*

100% of ingredients for the original dish were produced in conventional agriculture, whereas the proportional share of organic ingredients in the optimized meal is 23%.

### *5.5.5. Assessment according to the processing method (fresh, frozen or ready-to-cook)*

Both the original and optimized dishes do not contain frozen ingredients and consist of fresh and ready-to-cook ingredients only. The proportional share of fresh ingredients is 44% in the original dish and 86% in the optimized dish.

### *5.5.6. Assessment of seasonality*

Seasonality is assessed for vegetables and fruit, the original dish contains onion and the optimized dish contains onion and tomatoes. The original dish may be described as seasonal in the months of May, June, July, August and September. The optimized dish may be described as seasonal in the months of June, July, August, September and October.

### *5.5.7. Assessment of regionality*

To assess the regionality, the origin of main ingredients of a meal was determined as a percentage, i.e. that the percentage of these ingredients constituted at least 80% of the meal. Regionality of ingredients may vary during the year, depending mainly on a purchase of seasonal ingredients. The original dish contains almost no seasonal products and the suppliers remain the same throughout the year and the proportional share of local ingredients is 35%. The optimized dish contains 37% of local ingredients in the months from June to September, whereas in other months it is 0%.

### *5.5.8. Qualitative assessment*

Ten employees of catering facility answered in the carried survey that the original dish leads in the overall ranking, but also scores in the individual categories of taste, smell and appearance better than the ready-to-eat meal. The results are shown in Figure 2.

**Figure 2.** Qualitative assessment of tomato sauce

### *5.5.9. Results of other selected dishes*

Table 1 shows the results of other selected experimental cooking. The results in each column are always related to the optimized meal. The costs column shows the difference between costs of the optimized meals per serving, the CO2 eq column evaluates the environmental burden, i.e. the difference in the amount of produced greenhouse gases and the share-of-organicingredients column and the share-of-fresh-ingredients column display the difference in


proportion of organic and fresh ingredients. For the sake of clarity, the aspects identifying areas of improvement are marked in green, aspects that show deterioration are marked in red and aspects with no indication of a change are yellow.

### **Table 1.** Results of experimental cooking

*5.5.7. Assessment of regionality*

300 Organic Farming - A Promising Way of Food Production

whereas in other months it is 0%.

**Figure 2.** Qualitative assessment of tomato sauce

of the optimized meals per serving, the CO2

*5.5.9. Results of other selected dishes*

*5.5.8. Qualitative assessment*

To assess the regionality, the origin of main ingredients of a meal was determined as a percentage, i.e. that the percentage of these ingredients constituted at least 80% of the meal. Regionality of ingredients may vary during the year, depending mainly on a purchase of seasonal ingredients. The original dish contains almost no seasonal products and the suppliers remain the same throughout the year and the proportional share of local ingredients is 35%. The optimized dish contains 37% of local ingredients in the months from June to September,

Ten employees of catering facility answered in the carried survey that the original dish leads in the overall ranking, but also scores in the individual categories of taste, smell and appearance

Table 1 shows the results of other selected experimental cooking. The results in each column are always related to the optimized meal. The costs column shows the difference between costs

i.e. the difference in the amount of produced greenhouse gases and the share-of-organicingredients column and the share-of-fresh-ingredients column display the difference in

eq column evaluates the environmental burden,

better than the ready-to-eat meal. The results are shown in Figure 2.

### *5.5.10. Discussion on meal optimization*

There were a total of 32 experimental meal preparations, whose aim was to compare the original and optimized meals in several respects, had been performed. These general conclu‐ sions result from the assessment of each meals:


### **6. Conclusion**

The diet structure of monitored school catering facilities shows that the normative indicator of the nutritional quality of food (consumer basket) is respected. Traditional meat dishes (62%) prevail, the trend of vegetarian diet is slow, but positive. Seemingly satisfactory representation of vegetables in a diet is given by traditionally high consumption of potatoes. Organic foods are almost absent in Czech school catering facilities. The reason is high price and low availa‐ bility. Great variability in the consumption of local foods (17–86%) and seasonal foods (30– 90%) indicates significant reserves for suppliers and catering facilities. Larger facilities tend to use ready-to-cook foods and ready-to-eat meals more. Their origin is mainly supraregional. Greater use of local, organic, seasonal and fresh foods is possible, thanks to the relationship between producers and food distributors in the region. Optimizing rarely improve all the required parameters, particularly difficult is to coordinate economic aspects with an ecological criterion, as well as use of fresh, local and organic foods. However, in many cases, improve‐ ments in the above mentioned parameters did not mean a noticeable increase in prices. Motivation of staff and consumers towards sustainable diet is a long process that requires continuous awareness of both parties. School meal plays an irreplaceable role in education in a healthy lifestyle.

### **Acknowledgements**

Supported by the University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice grant GAJU 063/2013/Z.

### **Author details**

Jan Moudry Jr, Jan Moudry\* and Zuzana Jelinkova

\*Address all correspondence to: jmoudry@zf.jcu.cz

University of South Bohemia in Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic

### **References**

**•** The proportion of organic ingredients: Regarding the share of organic foods in recipes, only a small proportion of experimental cooking included such foods. In particular, dry foods, alternative foods such as bulgur, then vegetables and in one case meat were used. However, the inclusion of organic foods, particularly meat, meant an increase in the price of meal. This fact is due to the current state of the organic food market, where their prices are still

**•** The proportion of fresh ingredients: The proportion of fresh foods had increased signifi‐ cantly at the expense of the ready-to-cook foods. The average increase reached 90%.

The diet structure of monitored school catering facilities shows that the normative indicator of the nutritional quality of food (consumer basket) is respected. Traditional meat dishes (62%) prevail, the trend of vegetarian diet is slow, but positive. Seemingly satisfactory representation of vegetables in a diet is given by traditionally high consumption of potatoes. Organic foods are almost absent in Czech school catering facilities. The reason is high price and low availa‐ bility. Great variability in the consumption of local foods (17–86%) and seasonal foods (30– 90%) indicates significant reserves for suppliers and catering facilities. Larger facilities tend to use ready-to-cook foods and ready-to-eat meals more. Their origin is mainly supraregional. Greater use of local, organic, seasonal and fresh foods is possible, thanks to the relationship between producers and food distributors in the region. Optimizing rarely improve all the required parameters, particularly difficult is to coordinate economic aspects with an ecological criterion, as well as use of fresh, local and organic foods. However, in many cases, improve‐ ments in the above mentioned parameters did not mean a noticeable increase in prices. Motivation of staff and consumers towards sustainable diet is a long process that requires continuous awareness of both parties. School meal plays an irreplaceable role in education in

Supported by the University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice grant GAJU 063/2013/Z.

and Zuzana Jelinkova

University of South Bohemia in Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic

significantly higher than the prices of their conventional analogies.

**6. Conclusion**

302 Organic Farming - A Promising Way of Food Production

a healthy lifestyle.

**Author details**

Jan Moudry Jr, Jan Moudry\*

\*Address all correspondence to: jmoudry@zf.jcu.cz

**Acknowledgements**


### **Alternative Foods — New Consumer Trends**

### Mehdi Zahaf and Madiha Ferjani

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/61962

#### **Abstract**

[16] Furstová A. Legislativa školní jídelny. Výživa a potraviny: Zpravodaj pro školní stra‐

[17] Johanidesová O. Co děti rády jedí ve školní jídelně. Výživa a potraviny: Zpravodaj

[18] Daxbeck H, et.al. Nachhaltiger Speiseplan–Umsetzung der Nachhaltigkeit in Großküchen unter besonderer Berücksichtigung von regionalen, saisonalen, biologi‐ schen Lebensmitteln und frisch zubereiteten Speisen, zusammenfassung der wich‐

[19] Stará A. Regionální jídla ve školní jídelně. Jídelny.cz: Informační portál hromadného stravování [Internet]. 2013. Available from: http://www.jidelny.cz/show.aspx?

[20] Moudrý J, et al. Realizace trvalé udržitelnosti ve stravovacích zařízeních se zvláštním zohledněním regionálních, sezónních, biologických potravin a čerstvě připravova‐ ných jídel: závěrečná zpráva projektu UMBESA. České Budějovice: ZF JU; 2014. 55 p.

[21] Ludvík P. Školní jídelny v ČR a jejich obraz v médiích [Internet]. 2010. Available from: http://www.jedalne.sk/sk/public/obraz\_v\_mediich.pdf [Accessed: 2015-06-02]

[22] Kotter, J.P. Leading Change. Boston: Harvard Business School Press; 1996. 187 p.

[23] Daxbeck H., et al. Možnosti stravovacích zařízení k redukci emisí oxidu uhličitého

tigsten ergebnisse aus Österreich und Tschechien. Wien: RMA; 2014. 73 p.

pro školní stravování. 2006;2:29–30. ISSN: 1211-846x

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304 Organic Farming - A Promising Way of Food Production

id=1383 [Accessed: 2015-06-02]

DOI: 10.1002/cir.3880080221

Increased globalization of food systems, large-scale production and distribution, and re‐ tail sales have changed the way food is produced and consumed. The dis-embedded glo‐ balized system is characterized by "industrial food" and not well-informed food choices. This has also created many concerns with respect to food safety, food security, health, and sustainability. Food alternatives are developing leading to embedded localized sys‐ tems. These "alternative food" options include labels such as local, natural, pesticide-free, ecologically friendly, slow food movement, and localvores. The traditional marketing ap‐ proach and specifically consumer marketing theory are not sufficiently prepared to han‐ dle the advent of new types of consumers. These consumers are looking for more than a product, i.e., value products. The objective of the current study is to understand the mo‐ tives and concerns, product preferences, and consumption patterns of alternative food consumers in both developed and developing countries. To this end, a survey was ad‐ ministered in two countries. The population targeted for this study is alternative food shoppers. Results show mitigated differences between developed country consumers and developing country consumers in terms of food culture and food importance, perception of organic versus local foods, and foods channels of distribution.

**Keywords:** Organic food, local food, consumer behaviour, distribution

### **1. Introduction**

### **1.1. New food market realities**

The last two decades were driven by two major trends in the agriculture industry: an increase in the use of genetically modified food (GMF) and an increase in food-related diseases, such as mad cow, bird flu, and more recently the horsegate [33]. Emerging efforts to provide food safety and quality has led to a grown number of quality assurance schemes both at national and international levels. To this end, several "new" alternatives eliminate a number of concerns

© 2016 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

towards industrial food production and distribution. These "alternative foods" options include labels such as local, natural, organic, and more recently, paleo. Advocates of these movements are against any industrialization of the food chain, its production, and distribution. This system is based on two major elements, namely: (i) food mileage and carbon footprint and (ii) non-industrialization of the food chain. It is obvious that support for the local economy and country of origin are by-products of such system.

The organic market moved from a niche market to a mainstream market in the last two decades. This trend originated in the nineties, following a number of food scares in the conventional sector. The global market for organic products was approximated at US \$18 billion in 2000, then US \$23 billion in 2002, then increased by 43% reaching US \$33 billion in 2005, and US \$50 billion in 2008 [40, 36]. In the last decade, double-digit growth rates were observed each year [41]. Further, there are 633,891 farms managing 31 million hectares of "organic" land [40]. Although organic agriculture is now going mainstream, its credibility might be jeopardized as the production methods and processes are being industrialized [4]. Padel and Foster [26] claim that "*Although demand for organic food is still buoyant, there are signs that markets are maturing and growth rates over the last years have slowed to below 10%*". The main critics are not related to the key elements in the current definition of organics. On the contrary, these concerns are directly related to some economic, environmental, and social ideals such as production systems, size of the operations, distribution systems and channels, and capital intensity. The by-product of this situation is what Bean and Sharp [4] call alternative food systems (AFS). These systems are sustainable and economically, socially, and environmentally more viable. Concepts such as local, fair trade, and paleo come into play here.

### **2. Alternative foods**

### **2.1. Variety and food labels**

Aside from hardcore consumers that are very knowledgeable, others are still not well educated about the meaning of alternative food labels. Although there is a lack of a widely accepted single definition of these new alternative food concepts, there are serious attempts to provide clear bounds to this label. In fact, radial distance, such as 100 miles, replaced ambiguous characteristics such as political lines of distinction [39] or distinct characteristics of people and places [3]. In addition, Geographical Indication Labels (GIs) provide a clear signal to identify a local product. The European Union, for instance, recognizes two basic categories of GIs: the Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) and the Protected Geographical Indications (PGI). These labels help consumers not only recognize where the product comes from but also the production methods used [15].

The use of the term "organic" is restricted to farms, products, processors, and other interme‐ diaries in the value chain between production and consumption, which have been certified by Certifying Bodies. The USDA1 provides organic labeling to "*products raised without the use of most conventional pesticides, petroleum or sewage-based fertilizers, or genetically engineered materi‐ als*", in addition to the use of renewable resources and conservation. "Transitional organic" is also a restricted label and describes farms which have made the commitment to move toward organic certification. According to an FiBL2 survey on organic rules and regulations, there are 82 countries with organic regulation and 16 countries in the process of drafting legislation [10]. In the same report, the organic sector is considered as the linchpin to face the challenges of food security, climate change, poverty alleviation, hunger, health, and biodiversity steward‐ ship. Since the principles of organic agriculture include issues of social justice, Browne et al. [7] noted that sustainability and organics are closely linked and that ethical and organic trading are beginning to overlap.

Besides ensuring no use of genetic engineering, pesticides, additives, or fertilizers, local food labels should provide the consumer the value related to operation size, as well as distribution. In other words, buying local food should contribute to protecting the local farming economy, as well as the environment by reducing "food miles". In addition, culture is another important dimension which might be considered in defining local foods. Besides associating terroir and local food products with PGI, PDO, TSG (Traditional Specialty Guaranteed), food baskets, distributor's own label, or slow food, Bérard and Marchenay [5] underline the concept of localized food, which is based on the cultural dimension [20]. Consumers, particularly locavores, are becoming considerate not only about where their food comes from and pro‐ duction processes but also the way the food is made and creative versions of regional food classics of each season [12]. That said, it is important to consider what consumers qualify as "locally grown" since it determines differentiation patterns and, consequently, profits [9].

Labels like "local", "natural", "paleo", "pesticide-free", and "ecologically friendly" are not regulated and tend to be used by small farms catering to local or regional clientele. With the exception of marketing board-regulated products like dairy or chicken, production and handling of foods sold under these labels are for the most part not monitored or regulated, except by governmental agencies and district health units, and then only in terms of health/ safety inspections and only as required by law. As a result, information on farms operating outside of the organic certification system is scattered and incomplete. Lastly, "organic" foods have to be differentiated from "functional" foods [35]. Organic foods tend to be regulated and are based on supply side value while functional foods are not very regulated and are based on demand side value. While both types of product are marketed to achieve the same objective (i.e., healthy products), the market positioning is very different.

### **2.2. Motivations and reasons to buy**

towards industrial food production and distribution. These "alternative foods" options include labels such as local, natural, organic, and more recently, paleo. Advocates of these movements are against any industrialization of the food chain, its production, and distribution. This system is based on two major elements, namely: (i) food mileage and carbon footprint and (ii) non-industrialization of the food chain. It is obvious that support for the local economy

The organic market moved from a niche market to a mainstream market in the last two decades. This trend originated in the nineties, following a number of food scares in the conventional sector. The global market for organic products was approximated at US \$18 billion in 2000, then US \$23 billion in 2002, then increased by 43% reaching US \$33 billion in 2005, and US \$50 billion in 2008 [40, 36]. In the last decade, double-digit growth rates were observed each year [41]. Further, there are 633,891 farms managing 31 million hectares of "organic" land [40]. Although organic agriculture is now going mainstream, its credibility might be jeopardized as the production methods and processes are being industrialized [4]. Padel and Foster [26] claim that "*Although demand for organic food is still buoyant, there are signs that markets are maturing and growth rates over the last years have slowed to below 10%*". The main critics are not related to the key elements in the current definition of organics. On the contrary, these concerns are directly related to some economic, environmental, and social ideals such as production systems, size of the operations, distribution systems and channels, and capital intensity. The by-product of this situation is what Bean and Sharp [4] call alternative food systems (AFS). These systems are sustainable and economically, socially, and environmentally more viable.

Aside from hardcore consumers that are very knowledgeable, others are still not well educated about the meaning of alternative food labels. Although there is a lack of a widely accepted single definition of these new alternative food concepts, there are serious attempts to provide clear bounds to this label. In fact, radial distance, such as 100 miles, replaced ambiguous characteristics such as political lines of distinction [39] or distinct characteristics of people and places [3]. In addition, Geographical Indication Labels (GIs) provide a clear signal to identify a local product. The European Union, for instance, recognizes two basic categories of GIs: the Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) and the Protected Geographical Indications (PGI). These labels help consumers not only recognize where the product comes from but also the

The use of the term "organic" is restricted to farms, products, processors, and other interme‐ diaries in the value chain between production and consumption, which have been certified by

*most conventional pesticides, petroleum or sewage-based fertilizers, or genetically engineered materi‐ als*", in addition to the use of renewable resources and conservation. "Transitional organic" is

provides organic labeling to "*products raised without the use of*

and country of origin are by-products of such system.

306 Organic Farming - A Promising Way of Food Production

Concepts such as local, fair trade, and paleo come into play here.

**2. Alternative foods**

**2.1. Variety and food labels**

production methods used [15].

Certifying Bodies. The USDA1

Studying what determines consumer preferences for local food, as well as organic food, has been the concern of numerous studies in different countries [26, 6].

Aprile et al. [2] piloted a segmentation analysis of olive oil consumers in order to analyze consumers' attitude towards local produce in Naples, Italy. They identified four clusters of local food consumers: local traditionalist, local ecologist, local fans, and local health conscious. Results show that seven factors explain consumer attitudes towards local food consumption:

<sup>1</sup> United Stated Department of Agriculture.

<sup>2</sup> The Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL)

health concerns, altruism, environmental concerns, local habitual, local origin, certification, and specialties. Willingness-to-pay for PDO and PGI labels and other quality signals vary across the different identified segments. Similarly, Aguirre [1] conducted a comparative synthesis of the organic consumer profile in four different locations, US, Canada, Europe, and Costa Rica, based on three criteria: socio-demographics, purchase motivations, and main concern. The results indicate important similarities among the US, Canada, and Europe organic consumer with the Costa Rican consumer. Particularly in the four locations, the purchase motivations relate to health, environment, no-use of chemical, some concern about ethical issues, and helping farmers. Despite some differences in the barriers to purchase, consumers in all four locations state factors such as price and availability or unstable supply.

The importance of consuming local food is increasingly converging across different countries and cultures. Green et al. [16] conducted a study in four European countries (Finland, Ger‐ many, Italy, and UK) and the results of the study reveal the relative importance of risk associated with consuming conventional industrialized food, as well as the issue of provenance of food as a key element of the cultural framework in all countries. This highlights the fact that consumers seek alternative food as a way to reduce this risk and the importance of trust to facilitate choices in complex choice situations. Consequently, in making complex decision choices, consumers tend to use "pragmatic decision aids" rooted in cultural frameworks, as well as "craft skills", in order to assess food quality [16].

When it comes to understanding the main reasons for organic food consumption, Tarkiainen and Sundqvist [34] suggest that it is a way of life connected to a particular value system that affects attitudes, and consumption behavior. Padel and Foster [26] tried to ascertain those underlying values taking into account differences among consumers in terms of frequency of purchase and demographics (gender, marital status, number of children, etc.). Those values include enjoyment, unity with nature, respect for nature, taking care of family, benevolence, etc. More specifically, organic food-sales volume increase is due to consumers' self-interest motives that are predominant (e.g., personal health, high food quality, and taste). These are widely cited in the literature as the key factors to explain consumers' purchasing decision of organic food [24, 42]. However, it has been argued that organic food consumers might also have altruistic motives (e.g., environmentally friendly, animal welfare, fair trade). In Canada, organic food consumers mainly identify health and the environment, as well as support of local farmers, as main motives for their food consumption [19]. In the same vein, the Norm Activation Theory [29] explains altruistic behavior by feelings of moral obligation to act on one's personal internalized norms. This theory is particularly relevant in explaining consum‐ ers' attitudes towards organic food as an ethical food choice, which is based on political, ecological, and religious motives [21]. These political motives confirm Weber's [37] statement that human behavior is a way to affirm oneself and differentiate social status and belonging to groups.

Overall, growing consumer demand for alternative foods has been attributed to consumers' concerns regarding nutrition, health, the environment, and the quality of their food [14, 23, 31]. Further, various studies conducted in Europe and the US have explored consumer behavior and have tackled the issue of determining consumers' motivations and preferences for organic products [42, 38]. Although some consumers are environmentally conscious, most studies confirm the predominance of egocentric values like health, attitude towards taste, and freshness that influence alternative food choices [13, 42]. That said, Padel and Foster [26] show that motives and barriers may change with the purchasing frequency and across product categories. They distinguish between regular consumers who are generally families with at least one child suffering from asthma or food allergies and non-buyers who are more skeptical about organic food benefits and more sensitive to price premiums. They also highlight that consumers consider fruits and vegetables as the "key entry points" to the "organic experience", followed by other categories such as eggs and dairy, grocery products, meats, and soft drinks. In addition, their study reveals that trust appears as an important factor in deciding where to buy. In fact, consumers trust more specialist organic or local shops rather than supermarkets and large corporations.

On the other hand, the main reasons that prevent consumers from buying alternative foods are expensiveness, limited availability, unsatisfactory quality, lack of trust, lack of perceived value, poor presentation (packaging, display) and misunderstanding of the production processes, and lack of information [13, 14, 23]. In fact, the lack of information is related to the ability of consumers to locate organic products, to learn about the organic certification process, in addition to their ability to identify an organic product. The easiest way is to look for the word "organic" on the label. However, some consumers are familiar with various organic labels and might choose based on other features such as "natural". Conversely, previous research on the recent growth of consumer interest in local food shows that it is attributed to increased concerns with safety and accountability about food, in addition to a desire to support regional farmers, the local economic and natural environment. Consumers want to know where their food comes from and how it is grown or raised.

### **2.3. Global versus local production and distribution**

health concerns, altruism, environmental concerns, local habitual, local origin, certification, and specialties. Willingness-to-pay for PDO and PGI labels and other quality signals vary across the different identified segments. Similarly, Aguirre [1] conducted a comparative synthesis of the organic consumer profile in four different locations, US, Canada, Europe, and Costa Rica, based on three criteria: socio-demographics, purchase motivations, and main concern. The results indicate important similarities among the US, Canada, and Europe organic consumer with the Costa Rican consumer. Particularly in the four locations, the purchase motivations relate to health, environment, no-use of chemical, some concern about ethical issues, and helping farmers. Despite some differences in the barriers to purchase, consumers

The importance of consuming local food is increasingly converging across different countries and cultures. Green et al. [16] conducted a study in four European countries (Finland, Ger‐ many, Italy, and UK) and the results of the study reveal the relative importance of risk associated with consuming conventional industrialized food, as well as the issue of provenance of food as a key element of the cultural framework in all countries. This highlights the fact that consumers seek alternative food as a way to reduce this risk and the importance of trust to facilitate choices in complex choice situations. Consequently, in making complex decision choices, consumers tend to use "pragmatic decision aids" rooted in cultural frameworks, as

When it comes to understanding the main reasons for organic food consumption, Tarkiainen and Sundqvist [34] suggest that it is a way of life connected to a particular value system that affects attitudes, and consumption behavior. Padel and Foster [26] tried to ascertain those underlying values taking into account differences among consumers in terms of frequency of purchase and demographics (gender, marital status, number of children, etc.). Those values include enjoyment, unity with nature, respect for nature, taking care of family, benevolence, etc. More specifically, organic food-sales volume increase is due to consumers' self-interest motives that are predominant (e.g., personal health, high food quality, and taste). These are widely cited in the literature as the key factors to explain consumers' purchasing decision of organic food [24, 42]. However, it has been argued that organic food consumers might also have altruistic motives (e.g., environmentally friendly, animal welfare, fair trade). In Canada, organic food consumers mainly identify health and the environment, as well as support of local farmers, as main motives for their food consumption [19]. In the same vein, the Norm Activation Theory [29] explains altruistic behavior by feelings of moral obligation to act on one's personal internalized norms. This theory is particularly relevant in explaining consum‐ ers' attitudes towards organic food as an ethical food choice, which is based on political, ecological, and religious motives [21]. These political motives confirm Weber's [37] statement that human behavior is a way to affirm oneself and differentiate social status and belonging

Overall, growing consumer demand for alternative foods has been attributed to consumers' concerns regarding nutrition, health, the environment, and the quality of their food [14, 23, 31]. Further, various studies conducted in Europe and the US have explored consumer behavior and have tackled the issue of determining consumers' motivations and preferences

in all four locations state factors such as price and availability or unstable supply.

well as "craft skills", in order to assess food quality [16].

308 Organic Farming - A Promising Way of Food Production

to groups.

With the rapid growth of the organic supply, producers moved from traditional production methods to more industrialized production methods. Industrial farming addresses efficiently and effectively the challenges related to the cost and logistics of moving produced foods to national and global markets. Conventional food value chain applies an important downward pressure on price leading to the issues of profitability and productivity. This has resulted for some small farmers - concerned with the philosophical aspects of organic production – indiminished credibility of the organic standard and in a refusal to industrialize. These key contradictions lead to a "bifurcation" between market- and movement-oriented organic distribution systems since dedicated consumers continue to support alternative organic networks [28]. It has also hardened the value chain against entry by these small farmers. Hence, the challenge that the alternative food system is facing is a gap that spans between the consumerism/producerism system in place, the current food chain, and the alternative value delivery network/value chain.

Furthermore, this gap is broader between developed and developing countries. It is interesting to shed the light on similarities and differences between developed and developing countries in terms of the variables that might shape the buying behavior of organic foods consumers versus local foods consumers. As a matter of fact, there were almost 1.9 million organic producers in 2009, an increase of 31% since 2008, mainly due to a large increase in the pro‐ duction in India. Further, 40% of the world's organic producers are in Asia, followed by Africa (28%), and Latin America (16%). In North America, Canada allocates 0.7 million hectares to organic production while the United States has 2 million hectares. This represents 7% of the world's organic agricultural land.

One could infer that developing countries are increasingly concerned about providing food safety and all the ecological, social, and economic motivations behind adopting this option. However, some studies proved that "*the main aim of several developing countries' policies and/or legislative approaches for organic agriculture is income generation through the promotion of certified organic food*" [30]. In Tunisia, for instance, the Tunisian government developed policies, established a National Commission for Organic Agriculture and a certification authority, assigned a budget to cover 30% of investments of organic farmers and 70% of certification costs over five years to encourage farmers' conversion to organic production to comply with EU Regulation since 1999. Those incentives made Tunisia ranked 35th worldwide, and the 1st among African countries, in terms of certified area (87,000 hectares). An interesting aspect to grasp is the role of these institutions in promoting and educating Tunisian consumers about organic food.

### **3. Conceptual framework**

The approach of the current study is based on an integrative production-distribution-con‐ sumption model (cf. Figure 1). There are three layers of decision in this model: (i) supply chain related to certification and production methods; (ii) value delivery network related to the channels of distribution broken down into three main categories, long or standard channel, short channels, and direct channels; and finally, (iii) the consumer behavior related to the psychographics influencing the consumption of alternative food.

The tri-Party model shows the alternative food value that will be assessed in this study. Basically, consumers are assumed to have a certain *food culture* that is directly related to the degree of economic development. This in turn sets the current standard of food production that leads ultimately to food concerns. These concerns will—again—influence the way consumers perceive and eat food (food culture). Consequently, these perceptions give rise to food preferences and, more importantly, reasons to buy and requests regarding food quality, freshness, environmental and economic impacts, and healthiness. This is assumed to depict a certain size of operations (large versus small). This in turn will impact the type of channel members involved in these operations. It is assumed here that the distribution channels are very short, counting a maximum of two members: one producer/farmer and one distributor (if there are any). These channels create values that are logically different depending on the point of sale. Lastly, depending on the market coverage and the channel size, farmers, producers, or distributors will have a marketing approach adapted to the value offered to the target market.

**Figure 1.** Integrative Production-Distribution-Consumption Model

### **4. Research design**

### **4.1. Objectives**

versus local foods consumers. As a matter of fact, there were almost 1.9 million organic producers in 2009, an increase of 31% since 2008, mainly due to a large increase in the pro‐ duction in India. Further, 40% of the world's organic producers are in Asia, followed by Africa (28%), and Latin America (16%). In North America, Canada allocates 0.7 million hectares to organic production while the United States has 2 million hectares. This represents 7% of the

One could infer that developing countries are increasingly concerned about providing food safety and all the ecological, social, and economic motivations behind adopting this option. However, some studies proved that "*the main aim of several developing countries' policies and/or legislative approaches for organic agriculture is income generation through the promotion of certified organic food*" [30]. In Tunisia, for instance, the Tunisian government developed policies, established a National Commission for Organic Agriculture and a certification authority, assigned a budget to cover 30% of investments of organic farmers and 70% of certification costs over five years to encourage farmers' conversion to organic production to comply with EU Regulation since 1999. Those incentives made Tunisia ranked 35th worldwide, and the 1st among African countries, in terms of certified area (87,000 hectares). An interesting aspect to grasp is the role of these institutions in promoting and educating Tunisian consumers about

The approach of the current study is based on an integrative production-distribution-con‐ sumption model (cf. Figure 1). There are three layers of decision in this model: (i) supply chain related to certification and production methods; (ii) value delivery network related to the channels of distribution broken down into three main categories, long or standard channel, short channels, and direct channels; and finally, (iii) the consumer behavior related to the

The tri-Party model shows the alternative food value that will be assessed in this study. Basically, consumers are assumed to have a certain *food culture* that is directly related to the degree of economic development. This in turn sets the current standard of food production that leads ultimately to food concerns. These concerns will—again—influence the way consumers perceive and eat food (food culture). Consequently, these perceptions give rise to food preferences and, more importantly, reasons to buy and requests regarding food quality, freshness, environmental and economic impacts, and healthiness. This is assumed to depict a certain size of operations (large versus small). This in turn will impact the type of channel members involved in these operations. It is assumed here that the distribution channels are very short, counting a maximum of two members: one producer/farmer and one distributor (if there are any). These channels create values that are logically different depending on the point of sale. Lastly, depending on the market coverage and the channel size, farmers, producers, or distributors will have a marketing approach adapted to the value offered to the

psychographics influencing the consumption of alternative food.

world's organic agricultural land.

310 Organic Farming - A Promising Way of Food Production

**3. Conceptual framework**

organic food.

target market.

The current study aims to uncover the demand and supply side factors that affect the alter‐ native foods supply chain and how value is created through the distribution channel and perceived by the final consumers. This value needs to be determined and estimated at the demand side level. Further, the logistics of the value delivery network need to be investigated. This will lead to an in-depth understanding of the value added in the alternative food distribution system, the current market structure, as well as its determinants. Further, building trust in the organic food (OF) supply requires more than just ensuring product quality and product knowledge, or labeling and setting proper pricing and communication strategies, as actually trust is missing at various levels of the marketing value delivery system and the food supply chain. The dimensions of trust necessary to achieve market growth have to be inte‐ grated to the OF product positioning and the distribution strategies. Moreover, this will provide a detailed assessment of the actual purchasing situation in the current distribution system, e.g., superstores, specialty stores, and farmers' market. This analysis is done taking the perspective of both a developed country (Canada) and a developing country (Tunisia). This will help to understand the importance of the value delivery network in creating value added to the target market. Hence, the second objective is to explore the market responsiveness to the different distribution strategies used in developed and developing countries. In order to target more efficiently consumers, we need to provide a more precise and useful profile of these consumers, who they are, what they eat, how they buy, where they buy, and why they eat alternative foods. This will lead to an in-depth understanding of the major forces shaping the current market structure, as well as an understanding of the challenges faced by the main players of the alternative food industry.

Hence, our objectives can be summarized as follows:


### **4.2. Operational framework**

This operational model shows the alternative foods value that will be assessed in this study. Basically, as it is shown in Figure 2, consumers are assumed to have requests and preferences regarding food quality, freshness, environmental and economic impacts, and healthiness. This is assumed to depict a certain size of operations (country economic development). This in turn will impact the expertise and familiarity of these consumers with regard to alternative foods. These elements are the foundation of the motivation to buy alternative foods.

**Figure 2.** Operational Framework

Preferences will drive the motivation to buy alternative foods. It is assumed that beliefs, motivation, and attitudes are prerequisites to intentions to buy. Lastly, store image as defined above plays a moderating role here.

### **4.3. Measurement and scaling**

To address the study objectives, a quantitative design is required. The design will help profile consumers by country and their purchasing patterns. The conceptual framework depicted in Figure 1 has been developed to assess the alternative food consumption schemes. This in turn is expected to lead to the development of a second model that also takes into account the key factors shaping this new market. The former model has been tested using a structured questionnaire. Prior to developing the survey, secondary data was collected in Canada and Tunisia using major sources of information, as well as informal interviews with industry key players (experts, certifiers, and government representatives). These gatekeepers can provide the most recent and accurate information about the alternative food market and industry. Information obtained from these key players, while fairly comprehensive within its scope, is not necessarily accurate. This is illustrated by the example that in order to reach various target export markets, some farms, products, and businesses are certified by multiple bodies simultaneously.

The output of these interviews helped design the questionnaire. This latter is structured into three sections. The first section deals with consumers' general opinion about organic food, consumption and shopping habits, and reasons for buying organic products (measured on a 5-point Likert scale). The second section of the survey measures consumers' psychographics in terms of trust, beliefs, and attitudes (all measured on a 5-point Likert scale). Finally, the third section is structured to design a socio-demographic profile of our respondents. The survey was developed by selecting other case study questionnaires on the topic of alternative food marketing [27, 11, 32, 13, 17]. Prior to administering the survey, a pre-test was done and minor modifications were made. Quantitative data for this study has been analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). A total of 500 questionnaires were collected, and 480 questionnaires were usable. Data was cleaned and missing values were replaced using the mean. All variables were tested to check their internal consistency. Further, all reliability tests were coupled to a series of factor analyses to determine the structure of the data. Factor analyses also helped to test if the items were measuring the right constructs. Results from factor analysis and reliability analysis show good levels for an exploratory study [18].

### **4.4. Sampling design**

Hence, our objectives can be summarized as follows:

312 Organic Farming - A Promising Way of Food Production

distribution;

**4.2. Operational framework**

**Figure 2.** Operational Framework

above plays a moderating role here.

**4.3. Measurement and scaling**

types.

**1.** Determine alternative food consumers' purchasing behavior in terms of how consumers buy, where they buy, reasons to buy, attitudes, expertise, and trusted channels of

**2.** Compare consumers' purchasing patterns of developed and developing countries; and

**3.** Cluster alternative food consumers with regard to their psychographics in both country

This operational model shows the alternative foods value that will be assessed in this study. Basically, as it is shown in Figure 2, consumers are assumed to have requests and preferences regarding food quality, freshness, environmental and economic impacts, and healthiness. This is assumed to depict a certain size of operations (country economic development). This in turn will impact the expertise and familiarity of these consumers with regard to alternative foods.

Preferences will drive the motivation to buy alternative foods. It is assumed that beliefs, motivation, and attitudes are prerequisites to intentions to buy. Lastly, store image as defined

To address the study objectives, a quantitative design is required. The design will help profile consumers by country and their purchasing patterns. The conceptual framework depicted in Figure 1 has been developed to assess the alternative food consumption schemes. This in turn is expected to lead to the development of a second model that also takes into account the key factors shaping this new market. The former model has been tested using a structured questionnaire. Prior to developing the survey, secondary data was collected in Canada and Tunisia using major sources of information, as well as informal interviews with industry key players (experts, certifiers, and government representatives). These gatekeepers can provide the most recent and accurate information about the alternative food market and industry.

These elements are the foundation of the motivation to buy alternative foods.

To address the abovementioned objectives, alternative food consumers have been surveyed to assess their consumption behavior/patterns. Hence, a survey was administered to consumers in a developed country (Canada) and a developing country (Tunisia). The population targeted for this study is alternative food shoppers (organic food, certified organic food, local food, and fair trade food). For the purpose of gaining a good representation, respondents needed to fit within a specific profile. The idea was to randomly select alternative food consumers that make their purchase mainly at small producers' farm gates, community farmers, farmers' market, community groceries, specialty stores, and community chain stores. Further, they had to consume at least one of the following product categories: fruits, vegetables, dairy, bread, meat, and prepared food. They also had to be in charge of household grocery/food purchases. This being said, countries have been selected based on the stage of alternative food product's life cycle. Further to this, it is well known that food is culture in developing countries while in developed countries, this is not the case [5].

The point of contact of data collection—point of respondent interception—was selected according to the value delivery network. It is obvious that developing countries present different marketing distribution patterns than developed countries. More precisely, the delivery chain differs as per (i) channel size and type, (ii) alternative food products variety, and (iii) channel position—number of layers in the distribution system. Developed countries align all types of channels of distribution while developing countries have limited distribution channels embodied mainly in the direct channels (producers) and, to a limited extent, in short channels (specialty stores). Lastly, there is a two-prong challenge related to surveying some of these distribution players: (i) limited availability of some alternative food, and (ii) the limited size of the population requires a large sample size sufficient enough to ensure consistency of the results without reaching any saturation.

### **5. Results**

### **5.1. Overall consumers profile**

Consumers have been profiled using the data collected from the respondents who indicated that they currently purchase alternative foods (mainly organic and local). Overall, the typical alterative food consumers are aged 25 to 35 years old (30.1%); single (63.3%); household composed of 4 to 5 persons (38.6%); have at least an undergraduate degree (51.5%); buy at least two organic food products (90.8%); eat mainly national country-based organic (32.1%); buy organic food mainly from supermarkets; and finally, consider price as the major determinant when buying alternative foods.

### **5.2. Lifetime consumption: Familiarity and expertise**

Consumers have been regrouped using their lifetime consumption. As per Cunningham's [8] work, if respondents have been buying alternative foods on a regular basis, then they are classified as regular alternative food consumers (RAFC); while if they haven't been consuming alternative foods for a very short period of time, then they are tagged as non-regular alternative food consumers (non-RAFC). It is important to note here that alternative foods have been defined in broad terms of consuming either organic foods (certified, fair trade, local) or local (foods). Accordingly, respondents are distributed as follows: 63.1% of RAFC and 36.1% of non-RAFC. This means that a third of the consumers has been consuming alternative foods for more than a year while the rest of the sample have shorter experience with the product. Lastly, RAFC and non-RAFC are almost equally distributed on the Canadian sample, while in the Tunisian sample there are more non-RAFC (76.9%) than RAFC (23.1%).

Lifetime consumption could serve as a proxy to several indicators such as experience with the product, knowledge about the points of sales and price differentials, and level of trust. To corroborate this, several ANOVAs were run to check if there are significant differences between RAFC and non-RAFC in terms of their familiarity and expertise with regard to alternative foods. Results show that RAFC are more familiar than expert when compared to non-RAFC. These findings are summarized in Table 1.


**Table 1.** Familiarity and Expertise of RAFC and non-RAFC

### **5.3. Purchasing pattern**

of these distribution players: (i) limited availability of some alternative food, and (ii) the limited size of the population requires a large sample size sufficient enough to ensure consistency of

Consumers have been profiled using the data collected from the respondents who indicated that they currently purchase alternative foods (mainly organic and local). Overall, the typical alterative food consumers are aged 25 to 35 years old (30.1%); single (63.3%); household composed of 4 to 5 persons (38.6%); have at least an undergraduate degree (51.5%); buy at least two organic food products (90.8%); eat mainly national country-based organic (32.1%); buy organic food mainly from supermarkets; and finally, consider price as the major determinant

Consumers have been regrouped using their lifetime consumption. As per Cunningham's [8] work, if respondents have been buying alternative foods on a regular basis, then they are classified as regular alternative food consumers (RAFC); while if they haven't been consuming alternative foods for a very short period of time, then they are tagged as non-regular alternative food consumers (non-RAFC). It is important to note here that alternative foods have been defined in broad terms of consuming either organic foods (certified, fair trade, local) or local (foods). Accordingly, respondents are distributed as follows: 63.1% of RAFC and 36.1% of non-RAFC. This means that a third of the consumers has been consuming alternative foods for more than a year while the rest of the sample have shorter experience with the product. Lastly, RAFC and non-RAFC are almost equally distributed on the Canadian sample, while in the

Lifetime consumption could serve as a proxy to several indicators such as experience with the product, knowledge about the points of sales and price differentials, and level of trust. To corroborate this, several ANOVAs were run to check if there are significant differences between RAFC and non-RAFC in terms of their familiarity and expertise with regard to alternative foods. Results show that RAFC are more familiar than expert when compared to

Familiarity with alternative foods 4.68 3.21 0.000\*

Expertise 3.76 2.40 0.000\*

**RAFC Non-RAFC Significance level**

the results without reaching any saturation.

314 Organic Farming - A Promising Way of Food Production

**5.1. Overall consumers profile**

when buying alternative foods.

**5.2. Lifetime consumption: Familiarity and expertise**

non-RAFC. These findings are summarized in Table 1.

**Table 1.** Familiarity and Expertise of RAFC and non-RAFC

Tunisian sample there are more non-RAFC (76.9%) than RAFC (23.1%).

**5. Results**

### *5.3.1. Purchase criteria and preferences*

Given that the survey did not clearly define what alternative food is, it is assumed that respondents understand this concept. Further, there was no differentiation between local, local organic, fair trade organic, and certified organic. This is also evidenced by how respondents addressed the question related to alternative food preferences. In terms of local food con‐ sumption, 21.9% of respondents indicated they do purchase local organic food, 32.1% purchase national organic (Nationally produced – Canada or Tunisia), 7.3% buy certified organic, 4.3% buy fair trade organic foods, and 33.8% have no specific preference.


**Table 2.** Cross Tabulation: Country versus Product Preferences

Table 2 shows that RAFC and non-RAFC are mainly looking for the national and/or local food dimension. This downgrades certification and fair trade to lesser importance. These consumers are more hardcore alternative food consumers looking for good value products.

Further, when classifying these results by country, it is clear that consumers in developing countries do not clearly differentiate between the different types of alternative foods. This is mainly due to cultural food factors; the agricultural sector is not industrialized yet in devel‐ oping countries. Consumers tend to associate agricultural production to local/national production. Imports are not as important as for developed countries. This is evidenced by the Chi-square test. It shows that there is an association between the country and alternative food preferences (*χ* <sup>2</sup> =53.88, *p* =0.000).

Furthermore, a simple mean analysis3 shows that the three most important criteria when buying alternative foods are: healthiness (4.79), quality (4.79), and support to the local economy (4.81). Taste and environmental friendliness do not seem to be important purchasing criteria (mean lower than 1). Moreover, RAFC show higher means on the five dimensions than the non-RAFC. However, the only significant differences are related to taste and environmental friendliness. This shows again that regardless of their familiarity and expertise, the most important factors for consumers are intrinsic attributes (healthiness and quality) and extrinsic attributes (support to the local economy).

<sup>3</sup> On a five-point Likert scale.

### *5.3.2. Point of purchase*

Question 10 of the survey measures consumers' perception of the store offering and value. This is a very important indicator of the store impact on consumers' choices. Table 3 shows that all dimensions are relatively important to all consumers; quality, convenience and services being the most important factors. Price is moderately important and presents the lowest score (3.51). The mode for all dimensions is 4 on a scale of 5. Hence, all criteria are considered by consumers but to different extents when buying alternative foods.


**Table 3.** Store Choice Mean Analysis

To complement these analyses, bivariate correlations were run to show that store choice is related to intentions to buy, attitudes, and reasons to buy. This proves the homogeneity and structure of the purchase behavior.

Lastly, an ANOVA was run to check if there are differences between developed and develop‐ ing countries in terms of store choice. Results are not conclusive. However, even though there is no significant difference between both countries, it is interesting to note that consumers in developed countries have higher scores on all dimensions than developing countries. This clearly shows that the former countries have a stronger store image than the latter countries. This is mainly related to the degree of economic development and the structure and maturity of the value delivery network.

### *5.3.3. Buying process*

In the current study, the buying process is measured with a multi-step sequence starting with motivations, beliefs, reasons to buy, and ending with intentions to buy more alternative foods. This latter variable is dependent on attitudes that is, in turn, dependent on beliefs and reasons to buy. Attitudes are considered as a proxy for the final purchasing behavior. Two simple linear regressions were run to test the buying process. Before running the first regression, a factor analysis was run to determine the number of dimensions of the variable beliefs towards alternative foods. Results show two dimensions: one related to the intrinsic attributes such as taste and healthiness, and another one related to the extrinsic attributes such as price and the meaning of alternative foods.

Regression 1 tests the influence of the reasons to buy and beliefs (intrinsic and extrinsic) on attitudes (cf. Table 4).


**Table 4.** Regression 1: Reasons and Beliefs on Attitudes

*5.3.2. Point of purchase*

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**Table 3.** Store Choice Mean Analysis

structure of the purchase behavior.

of the value delivery network.

meaning of alternative foods.

attitudes (cf. Table 4).

*5.3.3. Buying process*

Question 10 of the survey measures consumers' perception of the store offering and value. This is a very important indicator of the store impact on consumers' choices. Table 3 shows that all dimensions are relatively important to all consumers; quality, convenience and services being the most important factors. Price is moderately important and presents the lowest score (3.51). The mode for all dimensions is 4 on a scale of 5. Hence, all criteria are considered by

> It is convenient to do my shopping in this store 3.68 4 It offers a wide variety of products 3.60 4 It offers good quality products 3.82 4 It offers the services I am looking for 3.67 4

To complement these analyses, bivariate correlations were run to show that store choice is related to intentions to buy, attitudes, and reasons to buy. This proves the homogeneity and

Lastly, an ANOVA was run to check if there are differences between developed and develop‐ ing countries in terms of store choice. Results are not conclusive. However, even though there is no significant difference between both countries, it is interesting to note that consumers in developed countries have higher scores on all dimensions than developing countries. This clearly shows that the former countries have a stronger store image than the latter countries. This is mainly related to the degree of economic development and the structure and maturity

In the current study, the buying process is measured with a multi-step sequence starting with motivations, beliefs, reasons to buy, and ending with intentions to buy more alternative foods. This latter variable is dependent on attitudes that is, in turn, dependent on beliefs and reasons to buy. Attitudes are considered as a proxy for the final purchasing behavior. Two simple linear regressions were run to test the buying process. Before running the first regression, a factor analysis was run to determine the number of dimensions of the variable beliefs towards alternative foods. Results show two dimensions: one related to the intrinsic attributes such as taste and healthiness, and another one related to the extrinsic attributes such as price and the

Regression 1 tests the influence of the reasons to buy and beliefs (intrinsic and extrinsic) on

It offers good prices 3.51 4

**Mean Mode**

consumers but to different extents when buying alternative foods.

Reasons to buy and intrinsic beliefs are determinants of attitudes. Both explain 33.5% of the variance of this latter variable and both have a positive influence on attitude. It is important to note that consumers do not consider extrinsic beliefs when building their attitudes. This shows clearly that such consumers look more for a value rather than a product. Regression 2 tests the last link in the process, namely the influence of attitudes on the intentions to buy more alternative food products (cf. Table 5).


**Table 5.** Regression 2: Reasons and Believes on Attitudes

As expected, attitudes have a positive effect on intentions to buy more alternative foods (*R* <sup>2</sup> =32.1*%*). To recapitulate, Regressions 1 and 2 show that there is a linear relationship between reasons to buy, beliefs, attitudes, and intentions to buy more alternative foods.

It is important to test whether these results hold true for both countries. Several ANOVAs have been run to test differences and similarities between Canada (developed country) and Tunisia (developing country). All results are depicted in Table 6. It is obvious that there is no significant difference between both countries in terms of reasons to buy, attitudes, and intentions to buy. However, there is a difference in terms of intrinsic and extrinsic beliefs. It is also important to note that Canadians score higher than Tunisians on all variables except for extrinsic beliefs. This is in line with the previous regression results.


**Table 6.** ANOVA Inter-country Tests

Further, all consumers score relatively higher on attitudes and reasons to buy. As expected, the lowest scores are for extrinsic beliefs. As stated in the literature review, extrinsic beliefs do make more sense for developed countries than developing countries.

### **5.4. Clustering consumers**

Since the main focus is to classify consumers with regard to their motivation, attitudes, beliefs, expertise, and their intentions to buy more alternative foods, various analyses were run. Therefore, cluster analysis and discriminant analysis are natural techniques to segment the alternative food market and discriminate between consumers. This approach is best suited to identify consumption and behavior patterns and create a consumer typology. Specifically, we are more interested in exploring differences in behavior between the segments than predeter‐ mining the number of segments.

Different combinations of socio-demographic indicators and psychographic variables have been implemented to determine with minimal bias an optimal segmentation strategy. The idea is to maximize intra-group homogeneity and intra-group heterogeneity. This allows for more robust profiling, as consumers behave in the same way when they belong to the same segment and behave differently if they belong to different segments. Note that homogeneity and heterogeneity are defined with regard to the segmenting variables. A good segmentation is defined as a segmentation strategy that maximizes both the inter-group homogeneity and intra-group heterogeneity. Conversely, a broad segmentation is defined as a segmentation strategy that minimizes both the inter-group homogeneity and intra-group heterogeneity.

Different combinations of socio-demographic indicators and psychographic variables have been used to segment the market. Several of these combinations show problems with either the intra-group homogeneity or the inter-group heterogeneity. Alternatively, for the purpose of having a good measure of intra-group heterogeneity, several ANOVAs were run to make sure that consumers in different segments have different profiles. All tests were conclusive.

### **5.5. Intentions to buy more alternative foods**

Our aim here is to classify respondents based on their intentions to buy more alternative foods. Question 8 prompts respondents to rate their willingness to buy more alternative foods in the future. This has been done using a five-point itemized scale, with a median point of 3. A twostep cluster analysis was run. Results show that we have a good segmentation strategy with three distinct segments (cf. Table 7).


**Table 7.** Cluster Analysis for Intentions to Buy More

Half of the consumers have moderate intention to rebuy alternative food in the future while a third of the respondents are more than willing to rebuy alternative foods in the future. Further, cross tabulations between the cluster membership and the type of alternative food consumers (RAFC–non-RAFC) show that there is an association between the type of consumers and their intentions to rebuy alternative foods. As expected, most of the high intentions to rebuy consumers are RAFC while most of the low intentions to rebuy consumers are non-RAFC.

### **5.6. Reasons to buy alternative foods**

Further, all consumers score relatively higher on attitudes and reasons to buy. As expected, the lowest scores are for extrinsic beliefs. As stated in the literature review, extrinsic beliefs do

Since the main focus is to classify consumers with regard to their motivation, attitudes, beliefs, expertise, and their intentions to buy more alternative foods, various analyses were run. Therefore, cluster analysis and discriminant analysis are natural techniques to segment the alternative food market and discriminate between consumers. This approach is best suited to identify consumption and behavior patterns and create a consumer typology. Specifically, we are more interested in exploring differences in behavior between the segments than predeter‐

Different combinations of socio-demographic indicators and psychographic variables have been implemented to determine with minimal bias an optimal segmentation strategy. The idea is to maximize intra-group homogeneity and intra-group heterogeneity. This allows for more robust profiling, as consumers behave in the same way when they belong to the same segment and behave differently if they belong to different segments. Note that homogeneity and heterogeneity are defined with regard to the segmenting variables. A good segmentation is defined as a segmentation strategy that maximizes both the inter-group homogeneity and intra-group heterogeneity. Conversely, a broad segmentation is defined as a segmentation strategy that minimizes both the inter-group homogeneity and intra-group heterogeneity.

Different combinations of socio-demographic indicators and psychographic variables have been used to segment the market. Several of these combinations show problems with either the intra-group homogeneity or the inter-group heterogeneity. Alternatively, for the purpose of having a good measure of intra-group heterogeneity, several ANOVAs were run to make sure that consumers in different segments have different profiles. All tests were conclusive.

Our aim here is to classify respondents based on their intentions to buy more alternative foods. Question 8 prompts respondents to rate their willingness to buy more alternative foods in the future. This has been done using a five-point itemized scale, with a median point of 3. A twostep cluster analysis was run. Results show that we have a good segmentation strategy with

**Segments Percentage Mean**

High intentions to rebuy 27.8% 4.86 Moderate intentions to rebuy 58.7% 3.63 Low intentions to rebuy 13.6% 2.01

make more sense for developed countries than developing countries.

**5.4. Clustering consumers**

318 Organic Farming - A Promising Way of Food Production

mining the number of segments.

**5.5. Intentions to buy more alternative foods**

three distinct segments (cf. Table 7).

**Table 7.** Cluster Analysis for Intentions to Buy More

The two-step cluster analysis shows one cluster with high scores on the five dimensions of reasons to buy, namely healthiness, taste, environmental friendliness, quality, and support for the local economy. Factor analysis confirms one dimension for reasons to buy. A simple mean analysis4 was run and results corroborate this finding (cf. Table 8).


**Table 8.** Mean Analysis of Reasons to Buy

To investigate this finding more, several statistical checks were performed. One last cluster analysis was run to explore the effect of the country on the reasons to buy. It is interesting to see that there are two clusters intimately related to the country classification (cf. Table 9). These clusters are composed of consumers that have moderate to high reasons to buy.


**Table 9.** Cluster Analysis for Country and Reasons to Buy

### **5.7. Beliefs toward alterative foods**

It is clear from Table 10 that true believers have positive extrinsic and intrinsic beliefs; while skeptics have the opposite beliefs. The third segment is a hybrid segment that has high intrinsic beliefs and low extrinsic beliefs.

<sup>4</sup> Measured on a five-point Likert scale.


**Table 10.** Cluster Analysis for Beliefs Toward Alternative Foods

To investigate these findings more and to get plausible explanations, cross-tabulations with the type of consumers have been run (cf. Table 11). A third of the respondents are true believers and new RAFC (non-RAFC) 14.4% are RAFC. Further, there are almost three times more non-RAFC skeptics than RAFC skeptics. Lastly, there is an even distribution of non-RAFC hybrids and RAFC hybrids. These findings are in line with the results presented above. There is a strong association between the segments and the type of consumers (*x* <sup>2</sup> =14.97, *p* =0.000 \*).


**Table 11.** Cross-tabulations of Type of Consumers and Belief Clusters

### **5.8. Combined clusters: Country-based clustering**

Combining country and familiarity to beliefs leads to the following segments (cf. Table 12):


**Table 12.** Cluster Analysis for a Combination of Variables

This clustering strategy shows that extrinsic beliefs are not important regardless of the country. Further, results show that there is only one cluster in Tunisia that scores medium on all variables. This could be explained by the fact that the food culture is not based on food concerns. As mentioned above, there is not industrialization of the agricultural sector. Conversely, Canada presents two opposite profiles: (i) consumers familiar with alternative food products and have expertise to assess these products,-these consumers have moderate to high beliefs; and (ii) consumers that have limited expertise regarding alternative foods, and have negative beliefs.

### **6. Discussion**

**Intrinsic Attributes Extrinsic Attributes Size of the Cluster**

**Non-RAFC RAFC**

Segment 1: Skeptics Low Medium 29.6% Segment 2: True believers High High 45.7% Segment 3: Hybrids High Medium 24.7%

To investigate these findings more and to get plausible explanations, cross-tabulations with the type of consumers have been run (cf. Table 11). A third of the respondents are true believers and new RAFC (non-RAFC) 14.4% are RAFC. Further, there are almost three times more non-RAFC skeptics than RAFC skeptics. Lastly, there is an even distribution of non-RAFC hybrids and RAFC hybrids. These findings are in line with the results presented above. There is a strong

> Skeptics 17.6% 6.9% True believers 31.2% 14.4% Hybrids 15.3% 14.6%

Combining country and familiarity to beliefs leads to the following segments (cf. Table 12):

**Segments Acronym Familiarity Intrinsic beliefs Extrinsic beliefs** Cluster 1 Tunisia Medium Medium Medium Cluster 2 Canada 1 Low Medium Medium Cluster 3 Canada 2 High High Medium

This clustering strategy shows that extrinsic beliefs are not important regardless of the country. Further, results show that there is only one cluster in Tunisia that scores medium on all variables. This could be explained by the fact that the food culture is not based on food concerns. As mentioned above, there is not industrialization of the agricultural sector. Conversely, Canada presents two opposite profiles: (i) consumers familiar with alternative food products and have expertise to assess these products,-these consumers have moderate to high beliefs; and (ii) consumers that have limited expertise regarding alternative foods, and

association between the segments and the type of consumers (*x* <sup>2</sup> =14.97, *p* =0.000 \*).

**Table 10.** Cluster Analysis for Beliefs Toward Alternative Foods

320 Organic Farming - A Promising Way of Food Production

**Table 11.** Cross-tabulations of Type of Consumers and Belief Clusters

**5.8. Combined clusters: Country-based clustering**

**Table 12.** Cluster Analysis for a Combination of Variables

have negative beliefs.

This exploratory study has academic and practical implications to both producers/distributors and consumers. Even though alternative food has not been clearly defined in the study, results show that consumers buying local foods and fair trade or local/national organic have a purchasing behavior slightly different from what is known in the current literature. Using familiarity and expertise (lifetime consumption) as a segmentation variable provides several insights on the current behavior of RAFC. Results show that RAFC are hard-core consumers. As a matter of fact, lifetime consumption has been used as a proxy of several other psycho‐ graphic indicator such as trust, reasons to buy, beliefs, and intentions to buy more. Further, this adds to the classical segmentation strategy that has been used so far in the literature. For instance, compared with [22], our clustering strategy provides more insight into the why, who, and what alternative consumers buy.

Each segment exhibits a separate and distinct behavior from the other segments. RAFC are habitual purchasing consumers and non-RAFC are variety-seeking consumers. First, when buying alternative food products, RAFC are making straight habitual purchases and have their own purchasing scheme. They are characterized as consumers who are motivated by intrinsic and extrinsic attributes but only by intrinsic beliefs. This explains why these consumers have strong principle-oriented lifestyles as they also look for locally produced products and/or purchases that might help the local economy. They also care about the product quality and the healthiness. As expected, these consumers are 18 to 35, single, and educated. Gender is not determinant here; males and females exhibit the same behavior. Further to that, they buy all types of OF products ranging from fruits, vegetables, and dairy to meat. Second, non-RAFC buy alternative foods occasionally; for less than a year. For these consumers, the main reason to buy alternative foods is healthiness. However, there is a significant difference between RAFC and non-RAFC in terms of taste and environmental healthiness of alternative foods. These consumers do not perceive significant differences between alternative food and conventional food. Non-RAFC seem to have a basic trust structure. This is in accordance with [32, 19]. For instance, non-RAFC base their trust on the information available at the point of purchase because they do not collect information to build their knowledge based on OF. These consumers are not fully principle oriented.

One of the main forces that affect the current state of the market is food culture. As per Figure 1, food culture is dependent on the economic development of the country. In the context of the current study, food culture is a by-product of the industrialization or non-industrialization of the agricultural sector. In developing countries, the agricultural sector is using basic produc‐ tion techniques leading to the production of small quantities. These findings need to be related to the product life cycle. For instance, the organic market is driven by conventional marketing strategies and is consistently looking to standardization of the supply. This defeats the intrinsic sustainability objective of such products. This study shows the importance of the production operations and the distribution logistics. There is a clear differentiation between developed countries (using all possible distribution channels) and developing countries (using less complex distribution schemes and shorter channels). The channels reflect a certain market reality. Consumers buy from long channels because of convenience and price. They offer a local value targeted toward a certain consumer profile; these are customers that buy alternative foods for health reasons. Conversely, short channels are production method driven. These channels serve consumers that have a principle-oriented lifestyle; thus, the support of the local economy is the main drive of this market demand. Price is not an issue here.

One of the limitations of the study has been that consumers might not *fully* understand what alternative food means. Further, the analyses performed in the current study did not focus on purpose—on the type of alternative foods. Rather, it focused mainly on (i) difference between the expertise of the consumers and (ii) differences between developed and developing countries. It would have also been interesting to study the importance of the frequency of purchase as well as price premiums. Further, the typical alternative food consumer in Canada and Tunisia is not consistent with previous research that indicates a female with a higher-level education. Having profiled this consumer, however, it is noted that consumers in both countries are very similar in terms of demographics. It is important to recognize that consumers may not fully understand the meaning of alternative foods, and thus demographics alone are not sufficient to explain the purchase behavior. Future research should be undertaken to assess the effects of different marketing ideas and also to examine if consumers understand the meaning of locally produced food.

To recapitulate, the starting point of the marketing model depicted in Figure 3 starts with the market needs. Depending on the degree of consistency of the need and the knowledge level of the target market, there are two schemes: habitual consumers (RAFC) and variety seeking consumers (non-RAFC). The more the consumers know about their needs, the more they will look for an enhanced value capturing mainly intrinsic beliefs. These consumers will look for basic channels offering quality, convenience, and services. Conversely, if consumers have limited knowledge but are driven by social consciousness (sustainability and helping the local economy), then they will buy from longer channels (specialized, community grocery stores) under the impression that food is local.

#### **Figure 3.** Final Model

### **7. Conclusion**

reality. Consumers buy from long channels because of convenience and price. They offer a local value targeted toward a certain consumer profile; these are customers that buy alternative foods for health reasons. Conversely, short channels are production method driven. These channels serve consumers that have a principle-oriented lifestyle; thus, the support of the local

One of the limitations of the study has been that consumers might not *fully* understand what alternative food means. Further, the analyses performed in the current study did not focus on purpose—on the type of alternative foods. Rather, it focused mainly on (i) difference between the expertise of the consumers and (ii) differences between developed and developing countries. It would have also been interesting to study the importance of the frequency of purchase as well as price premiums. Further, the typical alternative food consumer in Canada and Tunisia is not consistent with previous research that indicates a female with a higher-level education. Having profiled this consumer, however, it is noted that consumers in both countries are very similar in terms of demographics. It is important to recognize that consumers may not fully understand the meaning of alternative foods, and thus demographics alone are not sufficient to explain the purchase behavior. Future research should be undertaken to assess the effects of different marketing ideas and also to examine if consumers understand the

To recapitulate, the starting point of the marketing model depicted in Figure 3 starts with the market needs. Depending on the degree of consistency of the need and the knowledge level of the target market, there are two schemes: habitual consumers (RAFC) and variety seeking consumers (non-RAFC). The more the consumers know about their needs, the more they will look for an enhanced value capturing mainly intrinsic beliefs. These consumers will look for basic channels offering quality, convenience, and services. Conversely, if consumers have limited knowledge but are driven by social consciousness (sustainability and helping the local economy), then they will buy from longer channels (specialized, community grocery stores)

economy is the main drive of this market demand. Price is not an issue here.

meaning of locally produced food.

322 Organic Farming - A Promising Way of Food Production

under the impression that food is local.

**Figure 3.** Final Model

Alternative food research is an area of study with a vast number of possible areas of future research. Local farmers will find value in knowing that market potential does exist for their product, and consumers are expressing an interest in purchasing locally produced food in short channels of distribution. Their motivation to buy local food products is not driven by fear and concerns over food products but rather by quality, healthiness, and support for the local economy. In terms of channels of distribution, it is obvious that convenience and service are key for the channels choice. These two factors are a proxy for trust. This result is consistent with the findings from the study conducted in Ontario [25], which also found a willingness to buy local food products if available in more conventional stores.

Although consistent with other research that has profiled a typical local food consumer, farmers should not solely target the typical demographic profile (well-educated woman with above average income and family) but should consider the importance of product attributes to all consumers when creating their marketing approach. For example, knowing that a product is locally produced, and promoting it based on quality indicators (e.g., nutrition, health benefits, taste, and reduced food mileage) might be a better strategy than just focusing on the typical local foods consumer. Contrary to the existing literature on sustainability, and the concept of embeddedness, this study did not indicate that the consumer's concerns and/or fears changed the consumer's decision to buy local. While the study does reveal that concerns have altered the purchasing patterns and behaviors of consumers, these concerns about foods might relate more to the Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) crisis for example than the fear of the globalized food system. Further exploration of the reasoning behind the decision to buy local could be explored in order to determine if social theory and the desire to purchase sustainable products plays a role in consumers' decision-making.

### **Author details**

Mehdi Zahaf2\* and Madiha Ferjani1


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