Canadian consumers are a diverse bunch, but there is a solid subset of shoppers who want to know how their food was produced and who guarantees its quality.
“Some people are really motivated to know more about their food and others are less interested in those types of details,” said agricultural economist Jill Hobbs of the University of Saskatchewan.
She said farmers and government ranked high as trusted sources of food information in a national online survey of 500 English speaking Canadians.
Respondents ranked their preferences on four loaves of bread offered at different prices and produced without pesticides or in an environmentally sustainable manner.
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They were also asked who they trusted to verify information on food labels.
“The biggest group was those who tend to trust government, but there was a chunk that also trusted farmers and a real mixed reaction to third parties,” Hobbs said.
Five different classes of people emerged, ranging from the highly motivated who read labels to those who were not interested.
“Those types of consumers who value these attributes are likely the ones who are looking at the labels and want to know where things come from,” said Brian Innes, who conducted the study as part of his master’s thesis in agriculture economics.
“There is a certain segment of the population that is very interested in this type of thing.”
Some supermarkets are attempting to make their labels believable for consumers, but many of those surveyed did not trust retailers’ claims.
However, the study did not ask respondents about the brand loyalty that some companies build with certain products.
“Those who had the strongest opinions about these quality attributes didn’t seem to trust supermarkets as a group,” Hobbs said.
“It speaks to how do these companies improve the credibility of their labels for consumers. Does it need to have a third party verifying it or not?”
For example, many respondents seemed to associate Canada’s national organic standards with government approval.
However, another Canadian consumer survey found more than 40 percent do not trust labels to signify quality, while yet another found more than 25 percent did not buy organic food because they weren’t confident the products were truly organic.
An Ontario study found consumers had a higher preference for organic standards set by a government agency compared to a farmer controlled standard or those of private organizations.
Those surveyed were of all ages and education levels and both genders. Demographics did not seem to influence opinions.
Price was also mentioned in the study.
“It allowed us to see what was important to consumers and price was part of that,” Innes said.
“At least one-third of consumers had a high value for this type of attributes over and above price.”
Understanding how Canadians perceive and believe quality assurances associated with different organizations may determine if a product is trusted or if it fails.
“If people are marketing to consumers, they need to understand these different attitudes,” said Hobbs.
