Evaluation of food quality from the point of view of consumer health and environmental protection

Starting from the premise that consumers play an important role in influencing the pressure that the food sector puts on the environment through their food choices and that these choices are influenced by their assessment of food quality, this study presents the results of a survey that investigated consumer attitude toward food quality. The objective was to obtain an image of consumer perceptions and knowledge on food quality and habits regarding food quality evaluation. Results show that freshness, taste and price are among the most important quality indicators for tested consumers. Environmental concerns are present in consumer minds, but they have lower importance as food quality evaluation attributes. The findings convey the ideas that investigated consumers pay attention to food quality and that more should be done in order to increase the awareness of environmental impact of food production and consumption.