What is it about?
The study investigates Romanian organic food consumers' motivations, perceptions, and habits. Certified and uncertified (from farmers’ market or self-production, without certification, but perceived as organic) organic products are taken under discussion. Uncertified organic food is considered to be more “organic” than certified organic food. Consumers are strongly oriented towards organic food (certified or uncertified), driven by health concerns and taste, and they are primarily deterred by price and lack of availability.
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Why is it important?
- The paper presents the profile of the Romanian organic food consumers by examining their perceptions, purchasing motivations, hindering factors, and habits, in the context of the lack of a complex and updated perspective on them. - A novelty of the paper stems from the dual perspective on organic food: certified organic (with the organic label) and uncertified organic (without the organic label, from farmers' market or self-production and perceived as organic), which was not unexplored until now. This dual dimension is derived from the cultural, historical, economic, social background of Romanian consumers, emphasized throughout the paper and imprinted in consumers’ profile.
Perspectives
The dual perspective on organic food, considering certified and uncertified products, includes in the discussion a widely spread perception, disregarded until now, and indispensable for creating an up-to-date and accurate profile of the Romanian organic food consumer. The high number of analysed variables allows a complex characterization of the organic food consumer. Results advocate that consumers’ extended and positive evaluations of uncertified organics represent the link that could initiate the behavioral transition from conventional to certified organic food, being the premise for the development of a sustainable market.
Dr. Dacinia Crina Petrescu
Babes-Bolyai University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: A new wave in Romania: organic food. Consumers’ motivations, perceptions, and habits, Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems, October 2016, Taylor & Francis,
DOI: 10.1080/21683565.2016.1243602.
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