The first field experiments, the fishburger-tests (WP 2.4.2), were conducted both in Norway and Spain. It covered young consumers (students) as well as their parents in the Norwegian part of the study, and Spanish students in the second part of this study. Results from this study were presented in several conferences during 2005, 2006 and 2007. One scientific paper based on data from this study is submitted for publications, and another paper is close to be submitted.
The second workpackage (2.4.3) involved a consumer test in Spain with enriched seafood products developed in Project 4.4. This study investigates consumers’ perceived quality, satisfaction, buying intention and willingness to pay for these products. We are in the process of analyzing the results, which already have been presented in a couple of research conferences. The least liked product on average was the fish enriched with antioxidant grape fibers, while the most liked product on average was the product plain mince. All products scored highly on convenience. Yet, the products were moderately rated in terms of naturalness. Information on health related benefits influenced in a favorable way the evaluation of the products.
The third workpackage (2.4.4) studies consumer evaluation, buying intention and willingness to pay for farmed cod labeled with different degrees of ethical information and degrees of convenience. The planning and data collection of this study was performed in 2006 in Valencia, Spain. The Spanish consumers evaluated the farmed cod very positive. The manipulation of ethical information did not result in significant differences in product evaluation. But in general, the products with specific or extended ethical information is evaluated more positively than products labeled as ‘farmed cod’. Future analyses will be mdae in order to find possible moderators or interaction effects. The reported level of ethical and environmental concern related to fish in general is quite high. Environmental and sustainability issues seem to be most important. Fish farming is not considered as ethically problematic for most consumers, but there seems to be one group which is ambivalent about fish farming.
The main objective of the last block of research on consumer evaluation (Workpackage 2.4.5) is to analyze, discuss and publish our research on how and why consumers evaluate new and tailor made seafood products. Some of the products are based on other research pillars, such as enriched seafood in Project 4.4. Others are new tailor made seafood products produced by private companies (e.g., a fishburger from Norway
Connecting technical quality parameters of seafood with consumers’ preferences