Otago University market researchers have found British shoppers appear to give little consideration to food miles or country of origin as factors when buying fresh food items from supermarkets.
In surveys of supermarket shoppers and wider public opinions, the researchers investigated whether the controversial “food miles” concept was an important consideration in United Kingdom consumers’ food purchasing behaviour.
“Our survey of shoppers exiting supermarkets found that country-of-origin considerations ranked extremely low among the reasons given for why they chose to buy particular fresh food items,” research leader Associate Professor John Knight said.
The study findings also indicated a significant gap between what consumers said on the issue and what they actually did in their food purchasing behaviour, he said.
Of the 251 shoppers intercepted outside four different supermarkets, only 5.6 per cent nominated country-of-origin as one of the reasons for purchasing an item and only 3.6 per cent indicated they had consciously chosen British products for the reason that such produce was “less harmful for the environment”.
Price was the most common primary reason given for a purchase (25 per cent of shoppers), followed by brand or variety (23.5 per cent). Other main primary reasons were portion size (12 per cent), freshness (10.4 per cent), the only option (9.6 per cent) and usual or preferred choice (8 per cent).
However, when the researchers surveyed 250 people on the street about their purchasing preferences, 21.5 per cent indicated that “food miles” or “the long distance it travels” would stop them from buying New Zealand products.
Prof Knight said the contrasting findings indicated that what people said and actually did in relation to the food miles argument might be quite different.
“This may be due to a social desirability bias being at play when people answer questions about their purchasing preferences. When surveyed, people’s opinions tended to give greater weight to societal issues than was reflected in their observed behaviour.” he said.
Prof Knight said the research team did not set out to examine the validity of the food miles argument, but to find out whether typical UK consumers were concerned by it and whether this was reflected in their behaviour.
“Although food miles have already been debunked as a meaningful measure of energy use in food production and transport, we were interested to find out if this widely publicised concept affected consumer behaviour in the UK, which is New Zealand’s fifth-most important food export market.”
The results have recently been published in the international journal Food Policy.
Federated Farmers’ national president Don Nicolson has welcomed the research as a wake-up call for exporters that deserves further study.
“This University of Otago study has taken a big pin and stuck it straight into a balloon full of assumptions that may have New Zealand dangerously straying down the wrong track,” Mr Nicolson said.
“This is not buying intentions, but what consumers actually bought and there’s a huge difference. I’d go so far to say that if expanded upon, research like this might provide the empirical evidence we need to strategically plan for future profitability.
“Made in New Zealand is not enough to get our goods into a supermarket trolley, because less than 5 per cent of shoppers surveyed raised this as a factor. That’s a true revelation,” Mr Nicolson said.
“This research raises big questions about the assumption of high value niches being pushed by armchair exporters. It’s a potential cul-de-sac that sounds great in print but doesn’t register where it really counts - the supermarket tills.”
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